dog-nature-home

Good morning…

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home,” says Gary Snyder in The Practice of the Wild. This quiet quote appears today on the cool dog calendar a friend gave me for my birthday. As we in the state of Georgia receive the new detailed directive to “shelter in place,” this is the perfect morning to sink into God’s truth: “Nature is not a place to visit. It is our home.”

God’s nature is the spacious place sheltering us all. Rich and poor. Old and young. Sick and healthy. Alone and overcrowded. Those unemployed and those overworked. Those grieving and those gorging. Those suffering and those serving. Those full of fear and those full of hope. God’s nature is the spacious place sheltering us all.

The heavens keep telling the wonders of God, and the skies declare what he has done. Each day informs the following day; each night announces to the next. They don’t speak a word, and there is never the sound of a voice. Yet their message reaches all the earth, and it travels around the world. In the heavens a tent is set up for the sun. It rises like a bridegroom and gets ready like a hero eager to run a race. It travels all the way across the sky. Nothing hides from its heat.

The Law of the Lord is perfect; it gives us new life. His teachings last forever, and they give wisdom to ordinary people. The Lord’s instruction is right; it makes our hearts glad. His commands shine brightly, and they give us light (Psalm 19:1-8, CEV).

My ears breathe in the birds chirping loudly in the dark. Refreshing forty-degrees breeze in through the screen of our open doggy door. The sun is silently sneaking up to turn on the sky’s light. As this one-of-a-kind morning wakes up, whatever our age, our stage, our surrounding circumstance, may we not just visit nature briefly, may we shelter securely in our spacious earthly home, held tight in the light of our living LORD.

…Sue…

P.S. One of you wrote right away, “The birds are unusually loud or am just listening to them?♥️” Great question to ponder with God.