Into God’s Good Creation

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

Psalms 8:1-9

On a regular basis, our family participates together in a very simple activity.

No matter what my three kids have done that day, or how much time they’ve already spent outside, I try to take them on a walk. We usually end up on a little woodsy trail. The trail winds up and around trees that tower above us—a canopy of love and grace on a hot summer’s day. It’s always a relief to finally get outside.

The children run and jump around fallen trees, and the holes or huge rocks make for a lovely natural playground. Sticks and leaves provide endless hours of acting out their superhero worlds, and for some reason, they seem better with each other. Less snippy. Less whiny.

On an autumn day, we engage in an impromptu scavenger hunt, collecting as many red, orange, and yellow leaves as possible. I’m amazed by how well my children share with each other.

For as long as I can remember, I have found no better context than the outdoors for coming back to myself. Being outdoors puts me in my place. It centers me. More importantly, however, being outdoors recenters God, my Creator, in my life.

Being in God’s creation reminds me that I am God’s beloved creation. Being in God’s creation brings me back down to earth and helps me to see everything around me more clearly. I ask with the psalmist, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?”

When I look at the children leap across an old tree trunk onto a boulder with their little legs, I am amazed at the reminder that “they were crowned with glory and honor.” They are part of God’s creation. They need the space to feel this promise too. And so, I teach them that to have dominion over creation is not an invitation to abuse it or exploit it. Instead, as stewards of creation, we take as many opportunities as possible to be part of it. This means that we also realize and acknowledge that all of the human beings around us are part of God’s good creation too.

So, we live and love with gratitude, singing praises to God’s sovereign name, for his good creation, in all of its forms.

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:

What are the spaces in your life that help you to remember you are God’s creation? How do they bring you back into a right posture? In what ways does this shape your view of your fellow human beings?

PRAYER:

There are so many distractions and pressures to negotiate all day long, but God, I know you want me to fully be your beloved creation. Help me to embrace what it means that I am your creation and that the human beings around me are yours too. Give me the grace to love as a way to express thanks and gratitude for your presence. Amen.

READ THE PASSAGE IN CONTEXT:

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Psalm 8