1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. (Psalm 19:1-4)
The answers you sent on Libby’s behalf yesterday were certainly comprehensive and helpful. We have some people who have clearly thought long and hard about Stewardship. Thanks for sharing!
Today we address the Discipline of experiencing God through His creation. This is one of the least common Disciplines in the literature on Spiritual Disciplines, and this lack of familiarity may be a cause for questions. Vincent certainly has some questions for Libby and I hope you will have the time to help him out.
As a reminder, you will play the part of Libby and share your thoughts on the challenges people are facing. Libby is not expected to be an expert. Rather, Libby simply shares from personal and practical experiences. So, please feel free to chime in even if you have questions yourself. Also, even if you don’t have the time to share, think about how you have addressed the challenge in your life or how you would address it in the life of a loved one.
Please review the Bible passage above and Vincent’s challenge below.
Dear Libby,
I have always admired people who seem to be able to find the time to “smell the roses” and see God’s powerful hand in various aspects of creation. I barely find the time to smell my coffee. If I am honest, when I first heard about this Discipline of Creation, I shied away from it because it had a “new age” feel to it and I was afraid of being more caught up with the created than the Creator. As I understood more and got over that hurdle though, I encountered another problem, priority. This Discipline just does not feature in my day. How do you make experiencing God through His creation come alive in your life? What are some of the practical things you do on a day to day basis?
Ready for more,
Vincent
Today’s Question:
What thoughts would you like to share with Vincent?
April 5, 2017 at 10:53 am
Dear Libby, it seems you do have a strength at attracting those with thought provoking questions and situations that put us to think. I will try to be helpful to Vincent as l meditate on the question myself.
Dear Vincent
The words creation an time seem to go hand in hand as it took God Almighty time to bring His creation into existance. Somehow we humans behave as though time is in short supply and the word rush is always present and active. We rush through the beautiful things of God’s creation and miss so much of it, like a sunrise or sunset or even a chirping bird, without notice. It borders on our own selfishness how much we put ourselves before everything else. Yes we are busy people indeed. To observe the beauty of creation every day might be asking too much. But lets not ignore it. So Vincent, how about inserting a slow down day say one day a week even while driving through traffic, and just observe God’s beauty. Or better still schedule a time in and you will be awe struck to see what God has done for His sake and for us as well.
Hope that helps.
April 5, 2017 at 1:58 pm
Dear Vincent,
One of the oddest experiences I’ve had with admiring God as Creator is sitting through science lectures at university. Although I’m paying attention to the material (… mostly…), something that will strike me is how thoughtful our Creator is, down to the intricacies of the very cells in our body. How awesome and powerful is our God who has thought of every. single. detail. that we encounter daily? I bring this up to make the point that you can find evidence of the Creator in everything around you. It doesn’t have to be a big event of hiking/or sitting out in nature (although this is a great activity) -it can be as simple as sitting in traffic, like David suggested, and realizing how amazing it is that God created each and every person sitting in the cars around you! Starting off this way has helped me build appreciation/acknowledgement of God as Creator, not on a daily basis as yet, but certainly more frequently.
Sincerely,
Natalie
April 5, 2017 at 10:54 pm
I try to be mindful and purposeful. Oftentimes I’m so inside my head that I don’t take the time to observe my surroundings.
I have been making it a habit to acknowledge the small things that I usually don’t think twice about -the little instances in my day that are taken for granted. I’m filled with so much contentment when I choose to look at the world around me. In those moments, I take some time to thank God for His blessings, no matter how small.
(Practical advice: Sitting down quietly with no other distractions for a few minutes a day is a great way to be in tune with yourself and God’s creation.)