This week I was able to visit my 100 1/2 year old grandmother who lives about 10 hours away from where I live. She’s in remarkably good health, all things considered, although she’s become blind in the last two to three years. For a woman who gardened, sewed, and created acrylic paintings until in her mid-90’s, it’s hard to have your entertainment be reduced to listening to books for the blind and cable television.
The ironic thing is that the facility in which she lives is very richly decorated with lots of colors.
In her building carpets have vivid patterns, walls and floors and furniture in common areas are coordinated, and even the stairwells have carpet that’s hard to forget. While it looks stunning, it’s all lost on Grandma. She can’t see it.
I wonder if we miss seeing some of the beauty that God has created. Are we aware of the wonder of fluffy clouds or wonderful sunsets or intricately woven leaves? Do we still catch our breath as we drive over a hill and see a gorgeous landscape? Does the feel of sand between our toes and our footprints left at the beach cause us to rejoice in God’s good creation? Do we lay still in the dark, listening gratefully to our spouse or children breathe? Do we look up in wonder at the stars pinned into the night landscape? Even after our childhood has long gone by, do we see the wonder of God’s world?
Finish then Thy new creation:
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation,
Perfectly restored in Thee:
Changed from glory into glory
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love and praise!*
Creating God,
Thank you for the beauty and wonder of your Creation. Help us to always have open eyes of children, able to see and appreciate the gifts of all the beautiful things you have created. Help us to remember always that you are the Lord and there is no other. We pray in Jesus’s name, Amen.
“For this is what the Lord says—
he who created the heavens,
he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
he says:
“I am the Lord,
and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:18 NIV)
*”Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” by Charles Wesley