Consider the Wild Flowers
John Miller
06/03/19
- Windstream Mail
R E F L E C T I O N S Thoughts on nature and the Christian faith - 6/3/19 __________________________________________________________ "Consider the wild flowers, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." - Lk.12:27 |
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Whenever I go out to photograph, my eyes are usually focused either on what lies in the distance or what lies at my feet. When I have in mind capturing an image of a bird or mammal or of a landscape, my eyes are constantly looking well out in front of me. However, when insects or plants are what interest me, my gaze is always down. The morning I took this image, the sky was overcast and dreary so I put on my close-up lens and made my way slowly to a part of our property where I knew I would find ferns. But it was the color of some wild flowers growing in the midst of the ferns that attracted my attention. So I stooped to examine this little treasure I had found and the more I examined what lay at my feet, the more I was drawn to its beauty. The competing colors, the contrast of light and dark, and the delicacy of the plants and flowers all brought me to my knees, both literally and figuratively. Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like what I had found. We humans are consumed with our appearance and we go to great lengths to make ourselves look better. We accumulate things that we hope will enhance our appearance in the eyes of others. But we can't compete with what God has created in the natural world. He is the artist, the natural world is his art, and we are but admiring visitors in his gallery. At least we should be. We tend to be so preoccupied with lesser matters that we walk through God's gallery without a thought. Try going into the fields and forests with no other motive than to look in wonder at the marvels that God has placed there for our enjoyment. Here is a suggestion: look down, and then kneel down. The closer we inspect the tiny works of art we find there, the more our hearts will be drawn to worship the One who made it all. Maybe the temple that inspires worship the most isn't anything that we construct, but the one God has fashioned. Besides, God's temple doesn't even solicit money for its maintenance. - John
