Whenever I look at the beauty in nature, I am always filled with awe and wonder. The grandeur and the majesty of the mountains, the serenity and tranquility of the lakes, the colors and abundance of the flowers, the coming and the going of the seasons. There is nothing I can do nor anything I can think of that would improve what is already before me. God made the world and it is good.
I look at myself and often I am humbled by the gifts and talents that I have received. But often, I wish I could play God even for just a while and be able to re-create and improve on the person He has created me to be. How I wished I had a little bit more of musicality. Wished I had more talents at singing and playing musical instruments. How I wished I had been more athletic, how I’d wished i could excel in sports. How I wished I were more agile, more nimble with my hands, more eloquent with my words. God made me and I am good. Like the nature that I enjoy, I have everything I need to live a life that is full and to add to the beauty there is in creation.
Often, I wish I could indeed sometimes play God and be able to re-create and improve the people in my life. I wish for them to be kinder, gentler, more loving, more giving, more in my image and likeness. God also made them and they are good. They do not need to be improved by me. Just because someone does not measure up to my expectations does not mean that that person is without talents or gifts of his own. Just because a person does not say the things I expect to hear does not mean that that person dislikes me or is of low intelligence. And just because someone does not love me the way I expect to be loved does not mean that that person does not love me at all. Everyone has been created good by God and there is nothing I can do to improve him or her.
I see the beauty in nature and it enthralls me to become better. I can choose to see the beauty in others and in myself and we all bask in that beauty to become even more beautiful. I appreciate the goodness there is nature and I learn to use these blessings to make my life better. I can choose to see the goodness in others and in myself and we create a community of goodness that brings out the best in all of us. I feel the love with which nature was created and come into the Presence who made all of this possible and real. I can choose to feel the love with which we were all created and love will brings us all to the fullness of life.
Send forth your light and your fidelity Oh Lord; they shall lead me on and bring me to your holy mountain, to your dwelling-place.
Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth:
“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
Luke 4:24-30