Awesome Artistry

God is an amazing artist.  I am constantly awed by the splendor he puts in my path.  He doesn't lock it up behind vaulted doors and 3 inches of bullet-proof glass.  He puts me right in the middle of it where I can see it, smell it, touch it and hear it.  And yes, even taste it sometimes!  Scroll through these pictures and you will see Him at work:

Psalm 104.  ¹ Praise the LORD, my soul.
   LORD my God, you are very great;
   you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

 ³ and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
   and rides on the wings of the wind.

 ⁴ He makes winds his messengers,
   flames of fire his servants.

 ²⁴ How many are your works, LORD!
   In wisdom you made them all;

Don't these first three pictures make you think of Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre (after they make you think of God & his wonders first, of course).  While I was out walking on this striking windy/cloudy/sunny day, I thought I caught a far echo of a plaintive "Ja-a-a-a-a-n-e!" being carried on the wind across the moors.   If you haven't read or seen Jane Eyre, you won't get this reference.  And I know we don't have moors around here, but it's close enough.  If you haven't read Jane Eyre, you really should.  It's one of the best books of all time and I'm not even kidding.  The movies are good (there's been quite a few of them made over the years), but you HAVE to read the book.

Those pictures were all from nearby our house.  Sometimes we like to get farther (further?  I always get confused about that) out into God's creation.  The other week we made it the whole way to Hanover (it's about 40 whole minutes away from home).

 the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious,
   teeming with creatures beyond number—
   living things both large and small.
²⁶ There the ships go to and fro,
   and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

³¹ May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
   may the LORD rejoice in his works—
³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
   who touches the mountains, and they smoke. 

  ²⁷ All creatures look to you
   to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them,
   they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
   they are satisfied with good things.

We did stop to pick up ice cream on the way home.  We were satisfied with good things.

And then there's Ozzie.  I don't know if you recognize God's amazing artistry in him, but you must admit that he is an amazing mixture of approximately a dozen different breeds.

He's posing in front of a tulip tree we just planted at our soon-to-be new house in the old neighborhood. (see previous blog post for clarification).

Last and least is this strange spider Bekah spied with her little eye...  it's quite artistic, don'chathink?

 ³³ I will sing to the LORD all my life;
   I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
   as I rejoice in the LORD.
³⁵ But may sinners vanish from the earth
   and the wicked be no more.

I don't normally sing praises about spiders, but...

Praise the LORD, my soul.
   Praise the LORD.

Rejoice today!  Go find Psalm 104 in your Bible, take it outside into the sun and read it out loud.  Then go to the library and find Jane Eyre (or download it for free into your Kindle or other personal reading device), grab a mug of hot cider and start reading!

That's my best advice for today.  Enjoy.