Blog # 404 'Walking with God'
I remember reading in a small book of Christian reflections more than twenty years ago the author's response to seeing a field of corn growing. As she drove down a rural highway in western Missouri then on into Kansas, on either side of the road were fields of grain growing. All of a sudden it struck her to reflect upon what she saw, the reality of it all, the earth, the sun, the roots, the stalks, the grain.
All of it was there before her eyes, so close and clear she could see it from her car. She could stop the car and walk over to touch it. As she drove along and reflected further, the content of her experience became more than merely earth water sun roots stalk and grain. It was GOD, growing food for His people!
Creation, the world around us, the world we touch, see, hear, taste, and smell can very well be considered as a message or a letter from God. As a friend might speak to us through a letter in the mail, so God speaks to us through sights and sound, through our every experience, whether in joy or sorrow, through creation, through life and death, through good fortune and bad, and even through our sins. God is sending us messages, telling us something, something of Himself and of ourselves, something of the world, of our friends, the rich and the poor. In all of creation God is present, communicating with us, speaking with us, writing us letters, as it were.
But there is second step. As with a letter from a friend, the letter itself, folded and sealed in the envelope is very real and the words are really written, but until and unless we open the letter and read it, it is not totally ours. Creation is a message from God, but we must read it to make it our own.
The complete experience of receiving a letter implies a response, that we make an answer, that
we send a letter in return. So it is with the experience of walking with God in creation.
The first step is to open our eyes to the complete reality of what surrounds us. We believe it is created by the will of the single Creator of all that exists. We drive by corn fields and see more than earth, sky, water, more than root stalks and grain. We see tractors and the work of human beings and in it all we see God growing food for His people, for me. Some people do not get this far. Their letter remains unopened.
The next step in walking with God is to respond to the message God sends us in creation, to tell God we are happy among His gifts, to thank Him for His love, to tell Him of our sorrow when He points out in our conscience where we have been in sin, to accept His invitation to come to His home in the world around us where ever we might be, to pray.
Blog # 404 'Walking with God'
I remember reading in a small book of Christian reflections more than twenty years ago the
author's response to seeing a field of corn growing. As she drove along a rural highway in western Missouri then on into Kansas, on either side of the road were vast fields of grain growing. All of a sudden it struck her to reflect upon what she saw, the reality of it all, the earth the sun the roots the stalk the grain.
All of it was there before her eyes, so close she could see it from her car, so real she could stop her car and walk over to touch it. As she drove along and reflected further, her experience became more than merely of earth water sun roots stalk and grain. It was GOD growing food for His people!
Creation, the world around us, the world we touch taste see hear and smell, can very well be considered as a message or a letter from God. As a friend might speak to us through a letter in the mail, so God speaks to us though sights and sound, through our every experience, and even through our sin. God is sending us messages, telling us something, something of Himself, and our ourselves, something of the world, or our friends, of the rich and the poor. In all of creation God is present, communicating with us, speaking with us, writing us letters, as I were.
But there is a second step. As with a letter from a friend, the letter itself, folded and sealed in the envelope, is very real in that the paper is real and the words are really written, but until and unless we open the letter and read it, it is not really a letter to us. Creation is a message from God, but we must read it.
The complete experience of receiving a letter implies a response, that we make an answer, that we end a letter in return. So it is with the experience of walking with God in Creation.
The first step is to open our eyes to the complete reality of what surrounds us. To drive by the corn fields and respond in more than boredom, to see more than easrth and sky and water, more than roots and stalks and grain, to see God growing food for His people. Some people do not even get this far. Their letter remains unopened. The next step in walking with God is to respond to the message He sends us in creation, to tell Him we are happy among His gifts, to thank Him for His love, to tell Him of our sorrow when He points out where we have been in sin, to accept His invitation to live in His home in the world around us, to pray.
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