Natural Beauty

From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance. --Psalm 50:2

Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the beauty of God's creation. I watch perfect white clouds waltzing across a bright blue sky. I marvel at the green of the treetops illuminated by golden sunbeams and the ripple in a lake created by a delicate spring breeze. I listen to birds chirping their love songs and the carefree laughter of children playing outside. I rejoice in the warm, fresh air caressing my skin, and I wonder at God's glorious radiance. The same God who created the spectacular beauty that is our natural world, including such majestic feats as Mt. Zion, knows each of us better than we know ourselves. He keeps creation running smoothly, and yet He also knows the exact number of hairs on each of our heads (Luke 12:7). Just as He commanded all the beauty of creation into existence, He breathed life into each of us (Genesis 2:7). And while the beauty of the world sometimes makes my heart flutter like butterfly wings when I try to take it in, the beauty of the world is only the backdrop for God's masterpiece of humankind. We are the culminating work of His creation, yet since the fall we don't always reflect His glorious radiance the way nature does. Our sin has dimmed our glow, but God offers a cleansing through the blood of His Son. When we have been washed in Christ's blood, God sees us as He made us and intends for us to be rather than in the ugliness of our sin. When we walk with Him, His glorious radiance will illuminate us from our spirits outward, and we will effortlessly find ourselves responding to His command to let our light shine in the world (Matthew 5:16). Like nature, we cannot help but shine when we reflect the radiant image of the One who created us.