[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Tuesday, October 22, 2013

[Paul]

Hello and here's hoping that your day is going well, whether that be morning, afternoon or evening wherever you live in this world of ours.  Hope that everything's going well for you when you read this.

George Matthew Adams is an author whose works I'm not familiar with, but would like to get to know him, at least as far as his published pieces are concerned.  Do any of you know about him? Anyway he graces our screen readers and Braille displays today with his article entitled "A Love of Beauty," rendered as follows:

I believe that love of beauty is born in us all to some degree.  I can't help but believe this is true, for everything in nature is beautiful.  Nature has long been a life study by many, and the entire world bows in appreciation.  No matter where one goes on this globe, there he will find beauty sufficient to satisfy the hungriest lover of what this world has to offer.

Nature is full of miraculous designs that man has copied over and over again.  My home grounds are a riot of color now.  Art and beauty of every description.  I now fill my hands with leaves and am left in a state of wonder.  How did these autumn leaves get their magnificent color? Hold a fallen maple leaf to the light and note what a perfect piece of art and beauty it is.  The circulation of life to the minutest corner of these leaves should be sufficient to fortify the faith of us all.

God's trees had to be supported by these leaves, which give them life, and we easily remain in a state of wonder whenever we touch anything that grows, or moves, in nature.  A child is quick to make a mental note of color, even though we know we are ignorant of the thoughts that romp in a child's brain.  How sensitive each one of us is toward all beauty, and all creation, anyway!

Many of the tiniest flowers that grow in hidden places, rarely known but by experts, when put under a microscope, reveal an art design that is unbelievable.  It also calls our attention to the fact that God created everywhere!

And there you have it for today.  On the subject of natural creation, my pastor, Harry C. Cook, made an interesting observation some months ago in a Sunday sermon.  He pointed out the extreme age of the California redwood trees, and that those which have not succumbed to lightning or perhaps unprecedented strong winds, live as long as they do because they have unique root systems buried underground, and thus each tree gets its life-giving nutrients from the other.  He mentioned this in the context of one's Christian life, namely, that if we are separated from a local body of believers, that we will, spiritually speaking, eventually wither and die.  But if we are in regular contact with the same, both we and they will receive life-giving spiritual nutrition from each other.  Yes, we can read our Bibles, pray and listen to Christian programs on radio and TV, but there's just something about joining a group of believers.  Internet and phone chats help some, but to be properly discipled means one-on-one, face-to-face communication.  I can't remember which Scripture Pastor Cook referenced to support this, but it was such a powerful sermon to me that I never forgot it.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul