That’s Very Good!
Read: Genesis 1:1-2:3
It was an autumn Saturday evening and Billie and I were taking a short extra walk around Elworthy Field (or the Village Green as I like to call it). It was still light, but the sun was beginning to set, lighting the clouds near the horizon like flame. It was simply beautiful.
As I often do – albeit not as often as I probably should – I praised God for the beauty He has put into His creation: “God, that is a gorgeous sky. Thank you for making that for me to enjoy.”
Then I got to wondering why God made nature beautiful, or maybe why He made us so we enjoy its beauty. After all, it seems like a bonus, doesn’t it?
I mean, there’s really no need for us to see the clouds lit up and think they’re beautiful; or to drive over a rise in the highway, see a mountain peak with its reflection in the lake at its base, and have to stop and catch our breath; or just to hear the singing of birds in our backyard and smile at their apparent joy, is there?
Maybe there is.
After all, when God finished creation – after He had created mankind – He looked at what He had done and said that it was very good. He didn’t say that it was pretty good, He didn’t say that He probably could do better next time, He didn’t say it was adequate, He said it was very good.
My next thought (you can ask Billie if you don’t believe me!) was that maybe God made everything very good – made it beautiful – for Himself; and we just enjoy it too. After all, we’re made in God’s image, so it’s only natural (or supernatural?) that we would love what He loves – at least when we’re at our best, or when we’re least self-absorbed or self-aware or self-serving, like when we’re distracted from ourselves by Beauty.
I like that thought. Being made in God’s image, the things that give God joy should give me joy as well.
Prayer:
Father, we give You thanks for Your creation, and for blessing us with the capacity to enjoy its beauty. May we see that what You have done is, indeed, very good; and help us be aware that the beauty You have put into nature can give us joy because it gave You joy to make it. Amen.
Charlie van Becelaere
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