(I don’t have any good pictures of Denver, so I chose to use a picture from one of the most beautiful places I’ve been–Interlaken, Switzerland)

 

I’m sitting at the base of a mountain outside Denver right now with a steaming cup of coffee and a view of a flour-white mountain looming over me. It looks as if God wrapped a blanket over a barren mountain to keep it warm through the night.  Pine trees packed together by the dozen bring life to scene. Their limbs, burdened from last night’s snowfall, are waiting to collapse at the faintest vibration. Without a single footprint to tamper the view, I actually feel like I’m alone in nature. Pretty dang good morning if you don’t mind me saying.

Last Tuesday, at a Young Life meeting, the speaker talked about God the Creator. We see His artistry in the first few verses of Genesis. Using words as his paintbrush, God spoke light and darkness into the world and separated them from one another. He spoke water into motion and brought forth vegetation of different color and taste. He designed animals, all with unique shapes and needs to survive. He forged mountains and valleys so beautiful that our natural response is to stop and stare (or take a selfie). He created sunrises and sunsets, something that we see as being ordinary, yet God makes them new every day just to keep us on our toes.

 

Can you imagine the creativity in this scene? I can barely name a hundred animals, much less design thousands of them. If you ask me to draw a mountain for you, I would hand you a sheet of paper with a triangle on it, and if you asked for the Grand Canyon, I would tell you to turn the paper upside down. Think of the intent God had when He spoke the world into motion. It brings meaning to the verse, “For from him and through him and to him are all things (Romans 11:36).” The beauty of this world is meant for His glory. Cool!

 

Now this is where it really gets good. God creates this world that is astonishing in its beauty and says, “This is good,” but it is missing something. Then God creates man, and says, “This is very good.” Let’s pause for a moment. We just talked about the creativity of God and how majestic a vast ocean, a towering mountain ridge, or the depth of a canyon is, but still God looks at it all and says, “Wait, it’s missing something.” Then God creates man, and He takes a step back from his canvas and says, “Now this is very good.”

 

Do you understand the magnitude of this? The beauty that we see in the world God created is nothing compared to the beauty God sees in us. We are his most cherished possession, the missing piece, and he delights himself in us. I don’t know about y’all, but that is something to take comfort in.

So as I sit here this morning with my steaming cup of coffee, contemplating the perfection of nature, I will rejoice in the fact that the beauty I see now is nothing compared to the beauty God sees in us through Jesus.

 

P.S. We got over a foot of fresh powder last night, so I’m going to go shred.

 

 

Taylor