Grab a camera. Scan the world. What will you capture?
Beauty. Without even thinking, we search for beauty…
…if not classical beauty, then the beauty of the odd, the subliminal beauty of a curiosity or a fragment of human emotion. Click.
It’s remarkable isn’t it—a myriad of forms so present, yet beyond us, that beauty feels like God.
No wonder nature is worshipped. We look to nature for evidence of a Maker. The striations of an iris, a finger print, not just the way the smallest particles of dust can turn a sunset aflame, but that its crimson allure forces me to stop and acknowledge its presence.
Yet beauty does not in any way reach back to address our adoration.
And there it is: God never promises to be present in nature. Nature only bears witness to God.
I have friends who shun going to church. It seems the hypocrisy and annoyance of people gets in the way of their communing with God. Yet, I wonder if their experience of looking for God in nature can be like getting to know someone by staring at their picture—or reading about their attributes on Face Book.
I’m not saying that seeking God in books or the Word is without wisdom. Or that going out into nature is without value in focusing one’s mind on God. It just occurs to me that if a person wants direct contact with God…
… where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. (Matt 18:20)
Interesting, no?
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Beautiful.
So well said… thank you.
I'm always amazed that God promises to come when we gather in his name. Obviously you cannot gather alone, but what does it mean to gather "in His name"? I wonder if the declarations of nature, the hidden engineer's beauty, words and books, are supposed to inform us, prepare us in some way.
The irregular sun stripes on the leaf are a mathmatical equation secretly hiding the distance from the window. If the lines were all straight, all parts of the leaf on that line would be the same distance from the window. This is an engineer's beauty. How many other aspects does God hide himself in?