“I do not maintain that God’s creation of nature can be proved as rigorously as God’s existence, but it seems to me overwhelmingly probable, so probable that no one who approached the question with an open mind would very seriously entertain any other hypothesis.”
- C. S. Lewis
One of the places where I experience God – perceive God, get to know God, converse with God, fall in love with God all over again, marvel at God - is in nature. Or rather, as I tend to think of it, in Creation. Is there a difference between nature and Creation? Well, possibly. Maybe Creation contains all of the galaxies and universes out there, while nature is simply the stuff of this world. Maybe Creation is seeing nature through the eyes of faith. Maybe Creation provides for the possibility of all that is seen and unseen, including, but not limited to, what we so far understand about the world.
For me, speaking of Creation is to acknowledge the Creator – who I happen to believe is still creating and recreating and having a ball with it. I mean, penguins and aardvarks and camels, for heaven’s sake. And the crystalline structure of rocks and snow and iron. And the infinite shades of green in springtime, and the hush of a blanket of snow in winter. The softness of a kitten’s fur. The shaggy bark of a river birch. The hooting of an owl. The taste of a drop of honeysuckle nectar. The aliveness of the forest, or the ocean, or a desert. Creation, in all of its glory, in all of its unending variation, all comes from the palette of God, Creator of heaven and earth.
Getting out in Creation is a necessary aspect of my well-being, for my spiritual, mental and physical wellness, and maybe it is for you, too. When I get settled into my house, I will get back into playing in the dirt. (I don’t ever claim the title of ‘gardener,’ but I do like to try.) I also walk, and sometimes, when I have more time, I go hiking. Or go to the Botanical Garden. Or sit and enjoy water rushing in a creek or lapping at the shores of a lake or a beach. Or stare up at the glory of a full moon or look at all the stars and remember God’s promise to Abraham.
Pantheism is to believe that everything is a god. Pan
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theism is to believe that God is in everything. When I am outdoors, I am reminded with all of my senses that God is all around me and with me and in me. That I am a little microcosm of Creation and that I am created in the image of God. This summer and beyond, I invite you to discover ever more deeply the goodness and love of God which has been made known to us in Creation.
