Honeybees waggle while birds’ lyrical squawks and chirps mingle across the summer airwaves. Rabbits pop out of their holes as buds swell and burst with flower, leaf and fruit. Layer upon layer, one intricacy after another of this landscape unfolds. I am overwhelmed by this world that brims with extravagant abundance. Meticulously created by God, who seems to have set no limits to the wonder and originality of this living world, I marvel at His magnitude.

Although it’s just a glimpse, like the lifting of the corner of a veil, it is a declaration of earth’s wonders, the miracles of the heavens, a luminous acclamation of God’s glory. Elephant and mouse, milky way and the deep blue sea, are all a public, visible ovation to the presence of God. He has no rivals; no man can attain to His splendour.

Yet sometimes, my head full of life and its woes, observes nature’s beauty without seeing God’s greatness. Not because He isn’t there; He is, but, distracted, I seize on nature as a way to renew and restore my heart’s equilibrium rather than allow it to refocus my attention on Him. It is a subtle shift, a sidestep where I’m in danger of letting something good and wholesome come before Him.

In His grace, God stirs and challenges me, reminding me of the many things which can claim my attention, appreciation and care. Of course, it is right and wise to admire and treasure our world, but there must be balance. I must not let the world itself shape me or conform my mind to its image. Only one, the Creator of heaven and earth, can truly shape us aright.

How essential that I retain a posture that centres my heart and mind on Him and not my perceived needs. With Him as my focus, He can draw me closer until, flooded with His mercy, I realise that I am always and entirely reliant on Jesus. Only He can truly renew and restore me. Only He can meet the real needs of my heart.

The realities of needs truly met shifts my thinking away from self and protects me against idol attachment. Dwelling in the depths of my being, God’s Spirit reshapes and continues to reframe the way I live.

Salvation belongs to the Lord. He is amongst us, leading us heavenward, enabling us to grow. Every day His presence is manifest on the earth and in our small place on this planet, we have a measure of influence. We cannot add to His divine glory or increase the inherent glory of His being, but in our daily witness we can live and speak what we have experienced, what we have seen and tasted.

The stars illuminate the darkness. River and oceans show forth His power and every creature that covers this earth declares the omnipotence of the Creator. And we too, small and insignificant as we are, can also spread something of His glory and greatness as we let His Word have dominion in our lives.

© copyright Gillian Newham 2024