The Only Reality

Being an indoors long weekend (it rained constantly!), I generally only got to stare at the great outdoors through a couple of windows in dire need of spring cleaning.

And at one stage of this mindless persuit, I had one of those strange thoughts that flash into the brain at random. This was it:

God's creation is the only REAL reality.

Profound? Not exactly. But think about it. How many great civilizations have risen, built and multiplied, then disappeared under the sands of the desert, or the vines of a jungle, or just crumbled away into the dust they were created from. How much of our time is spent maintaining our buildings against the natural consequences of what God has created taking back the land they are due? Take us destructive humans out the picture, give it a few thousand years, and this place would be back to natural, generally speaking.

Or take the percieved realities we create around us - the high-flying jobs, the gadgets and toys, the houses built to impress. Heck, we even create virtual nature by screensavers and soundscapes, while the real thing is just outside the window. And the not-real stuff we create for ourselves can just as easily disappear under God's greenery, an upsurge of ground water or the unpredictable forces of a storm as did civilizations of old.

In my grandparent's garden is a huge slab of slate, hauled up from the river, which has this little poem on it:

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on Earth!

Is it any wonder that I feel closer to God outside, in His great outdoors, than in a man-made, due-to-crumble building? That I prefer sun on my face than an airconditioned heat? That getting my fingers deep into rich loamy soil brings my soul closer to God? That a walk in the field with the creatures He's blessed me with is better stress relief than anything else I know?

I have a soul that longs for daily contact with what God has provided. A heart that yearns for simple living in His creation, working with Him to provide daily needs and drawing on the strengths He gives through this process of trust and labour. I find myself caught up in "modern" living too often - burned out by artificial lighting and mindless entertainment, trapped into slavery by something they call money, constricted by walls that feel like they're closing in, bound in a battle to live up to expectations instead of living in rhythm with the pulse of life around me.

And lately my worship springs from time with God in his creation, more and more. I eagerly anticipate the spring and summer days when I can spend time talking to God in the warmth of sunshine with new life bursting from tree and bud around me. Already there are stirrings of tender shoots, and with each one I feel a prayer rise from my soul, a breath of praise let out as easily as I inhale the rain-fresh air. Every seed planted is a giving over of my trust that God is in control and will make all things grow in their season - even me.

Being in tune with God is being in tune with His creation in its simplicity, beauty and wonder. It's REAL living.

::update::
Dan has similar thoughts in a recent post.