The Blatant Evidence of Love by Tara McDonald

Most mornings I wake up with a ridiculous grin on my face and a merry tune on my lips. I get out of my warm bed and look out at the beautiful mountains, the towering peaks and shining white snow. The tall aspens outside my window impart a stained-glass effect on my wall, and the rays of sunshine peer through the frail branches. I open my window and breathe in the crisp cool scent that accompanies these mornings, and I calmly close my eyes. Once, in this early hour, I even saw an eagle flying. I feel warm, peaceful, and totally blessed to enjoy the beauty that God has given me.

But what about the days when I don’t wake up feeling perfectly fantastic? What do I do when I’m not immediately struck by the beauty that God has given us in our everyday lives? Life is full of hardship, sadness, and just plain old bad days. So is it still possible to be overwhelmed by God’s creation even when we don’t see it right away?

You may call him God, Lord, Abba, or any variety of other names, but He is and always will be, our Heavenly Father. We are his beloved children, and he absolutely adores us.

When you adore someone, what do you do for them? Everything. You send them flowers, you give them hugs, you draw them pictures. You do anything you can to let them know you love them. Even when they’re having a hard time recognizing your love you continue to give it. 1 John 3:1-2 reads, “See what love The Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

We have Biblical proof that we are God’s children, and that He delights to thrill us! One of the simplest ways he does this is by providing us with His beauty, grace and love in our everyday lives. A good friend, a phone call, the lack of traffic, an amazing sunrise. Even these simple random occurrences can brighten our day if we let them.

In Psalm 21:6 the Psalmist sings, “Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence,” For me, it comes through spending time in worship and then carrying His spirit with me throughout the day.” What is worship? It is Gods children praising him for his goodness. Does not it make sense that God would then reflect his goodness on us after we reflect on it? He uses the physical to display his glory to us, for that is where our bodies and minds exist. The things that grace the spiritual are often blessings that we do not recognize, whereas when our physical man sees natural beauty, it is identified with ease.

“From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth (Psalm 50:2).” God’s beauty is evident in all the earth. Once it is identified, how do we not acknowledge the Lord as Sovereign Father and Creator? Mark 6:2 declares, “What great deeds are done by His hands.”

Think of simple things like colors: What crazy thing went through God’s mind when He made all the amazing shades? Black and white could have been where our sight stopped, but our Father chose to dote on us, his children, by gracing this world with the rainbow.

Flowers, birds, clouds, and the seasons. Weather, winter, frost, and stormy seas. Exotic creatures, islands, beaches, and paradises. We are told in Habakkuk 2:14 that “the earth is filled with the Lord's glory”. And we don’t even need to search to find it! Look around you now. Stop reading, and just look. What did you see?

Perhaps you saw a darling family member, an interesting cloud formation, a beautiful scene. Everywhere we look we can find evidence of God’s glory and beauty and it doesn’t take a good mood to recognize. For the Father, “has made everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11)”.