Gifts of nature and the nature of gifts

I pulled my car out of the garage, heading first towards the end of the block and ultimately to I-75. As I came to the end of our street, I looked east down a deserted 8th Avenue which runs alongside a nearly empty canal from which there was enough moisture for steam to be rising in pleasant curly wafts. I had an unobstructed view the mile or so before 8th dead-ends into Hendry County when I caught my first look at the sun, bigger than the geodome at Epcot and more intensely coral than the ripest apricot, rising ever so slowly.

As you know from earlier posts, gazing at natural phenomena is something I do with some regularity. It's as though God call's out my name in these images. "Come look Kathleen, see what I made for you this morning!" The sun was low enough on the horizon and filtered through enough of the atmosphere that the perimeter was sharply defined against the sky. It had not yet cleared the ground...so the bottom edge appeared as though it might be resting on the earth for just a minute longer before it rose to do its work. Soon it would be too bright to look at directly, too busy lighting and warming and too ordinary for anyone to bother being caught up in its beauty.

But for the moment is was a gift. It was a gift with my name on it. It was a gift from the Creator of the Universe. I didn't ask for, or even hint that it was something I'd love. There was no special occasion... it was just a Thursday morning. I hadn't been particularly good and there was no holiday which it was sent to celebrate. Yet there it was in all its ginormous glory. Thank You God!

I'm sure there are times in your life and in mine that we are given such gifts but we miss them. The hurry in our step; the multi-tasking in our minds; the unresolved issues or relationships that steal our thoughts all have the potential to dim our eyes to what is right before us, and keep us from hearing God calling our name as He offers us His gifts.

The Good News of course is that the One who offers such gifts never tires of calling to us or creating - never gets discouraged that we are often deaf, dumb and blind to His presence and presents all around us. Tomorrow there will be a new sunrise and sunset, a new song of a bird calling, a new rainbow in a clear blue sky. The nature of God's gifts of nature is that they are as the Psalmist wrote: "new every morning -- so great is God's faithfulness."

In our recognition of the gift and the Giver we receive more than momentary good feelings, however. These short encounters with God are among the ways our hearts are knit to His heart and His Image is made more real in us. As we are touched by the Divine we are made more like Him. By faith we believe that when we see God, we are made holy, we are changed.

As spring begins to fall freshly upon us, I want to encourage you to look for the gifts of nature from the Ultimate Giver of nature's gifts. Pause over them, take them in, delight in them and know the encounter is more than you can see, hear, feel or imagine. Our generous God is showering His glory all around us. Stop and smell the beautiful roses. PEACE AND JOY, THE CELTIC MONK