My son points out quite nicely in Tilt-a-Whirl that God wastes all kinds of glory and beauty on us all the time. We miss the stunning artistry He displays in each and every little snowflake. We glance at the rainbow and move on. We pass by the flowers and clouds and icicles nonchalantly when we ought to be thunderstruck in amazement all the time. And many of the outrageous views He has made are not even seen or appreciated by anyone at all. Take all the sunsets that only the birds and insects see. Why does God waste so much of His artwork on us? He must love us very much, and He must enjoy bestowing His good gifts even on a deaf and blind and bored audience.
And yet we imitate Him in this in very small ways. Think of parents moving the new baby into his room. Does the newborn appreciate the new crib with the matching quilt and bumper pads? Or the freshly painted walls in the nursery? Is the baby impressed with the handmade blanket from Aunt Susie or the quilt that has been lovingly passed down for generations? Of course not. But the giver is blessed. This is one of the ways Mom expresses her love for her new baby, though baby knows nothing of it. This is a concrete way of giving, loving, bestowing, welcoming. We obviously get this impulse from our wise Creator who made heaven and earth and then lavished loving kindness into every nook and cranny, ladling it out and sloshing it all over the place.
We ought to rouse ourselves from our stupor from time to time and take in some of the glories we find ourselves knee-deep in. Then with thankfulness, we can turn to our own homes and bestow some of this reflected glory in expected and unexpected places. Tiny ladles to be sure, but sloshing over nonetheless.
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I have always liked rainbows. When I was a kid, I saw them all the time. As a teen I moved to a place that didn’t have them. I went years without seeing them. Six years ago, I saw the most beautiful rainbow, I’ve ever seen. It was over by Good Sam (a Moscow nursing home). I’ll always remember how clear and sharp the colors were. It was a double rainbow.
You’ve heard the phrase,”Music of the Spheres?” For those who haven’t, it is a term in some older hymns that refer to the music of the universe. Until the last few decades, we have never been able to hear that sound. We truly were deaf to that part of Creation. Now, with radio telescopes we can actually hear a snippet of the sounds of the universe.
Good Post Nancy.
God’s glory and beauty are never actually ‘wasted’ though… all He does is good and right and it brings Him glory whether we fallen humans acknowledge it or not. But yes, you are right, we don’t fall in love with the majesty and awesomeness of our Creator, Redeemer and King as He is worthy of. But one day we will… Prasie be to our Lord Jesus for that glorious hope!
But to call them ‘wasted’ helps bring our stubborn heads around, to consider that fact that if we did all the work to create the beauty, we would consider them wasted.
I watched the video of the Foucachon baby’s baptism just after reading this, and connected the two in my mind. Here’s a tiny person who has no idea what’s happening to him while grace is being poured on his head and a unison chorus of his older brethren are reminding him of God’s absurdly lavish grace toward him. I sympathize with the folks who can’t bring themselves to believe in paedobaptism or paedocommunion. I can’t get my head around such notions of crazylove, either!
Thank you for these thoughts, Nancy. I need to remember them when I’m hesitant to light the candle on the table before dinner (lest I waste the candle on a guestless meal) or balk at going the extra mile to make a nice dinner (lest I waste time preparing something that will be gone by evening’s end), etc.
I also find it encouraging…it’s okay to “waste” time learning an instrument or reading a book or oil painting–even when there is no cash value, so to speak, in doing so.
If you are enjoying the candle, Angie, then it is not wasted.
I’m also reminded of this post, one of my favorites ever on this blog.
Looks like just need to learn how to be a better time waster!
Earth is crammed with heaven…and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes, the rest sit around and pick blackberries. –Elizabeth Browning
It’s so nice to hear a French accent…(and, hey, not a bad name either!)
Thank you. What you said was so rightly said and timed it made me cry — in a good way.
I needed to hear that, just kind of let is wash over my soul. Today is our first day of school and we’re back to homeschooling so we had a few bumps starting out this morning. I think I’ll make dinner and dessert really fun tonight to lighten things up. It will be a good reminder of how kind and giving our Father is.
What a beautiful post! One can’t help to smile (and delight in the Lord) at this thought.
Ah! Thanks.