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The Bible Says
“While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22 NKJB)
Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays; Whether we look, or whether we listen, We hear life murmur, or see it glisten; Every clod feels a stir of might, An instinct within it that reaches and towers, And, groping blindly above it for light, Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers; The flush of life may well be seen Thrilling back over hills and valleys; The cowslip startles in meadows green, The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice, And there’s never a leaf nor a blade too mean To be some happy creature’s palace; The little bird sits at his door in the sun, Atilt like a blossom catches the sun in its chalice, And lets his illumined being o’er run With the deluge of summer it receives; His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings, And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings; He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest,- In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best? Now is the high-tide of the year, And whatever of life hath ebbed away Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer, Into every bare inlet and creek and bay; Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it, We are happy now because God wills it; No matter how barren the past may have been, ‘Tis enough for us now that the leaves are green; We sit in the warm shade and feel right well How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell; We may shut our eves but we cannot help knowing That skies are clear and grass is growing’ The breeze comes whispering in our ear, That dandelions are blossoming near, That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing, That the river is bluer than the sky, That the robin is plastering his house hard by; And if the breeze kept the good news back, For our couriers we should not lack; We could guess it all by yon heifer’s lowing,- And hark! How clear bold chanticleer, Warmed with the new wine of the year, Tells all in his lusty crowing! Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how; Everything is happy now, Everything is upward striving; ‘Tis as easy now for the heart to be true As for grass to be green or skies to be blue,- ‘Tis for the natural way of living: Who knows whither the clouds have fled? In the unscarred heaven they leave not wake, And the eyes forget the tears they have shed, The heart forgets its sorrow and ache; The soul partakes the season’s youth, And the sulphurous rifts of passion and woe Lie deep ‘neath a silence pure and smooth, Like burnt-out craters healed with snow.
-- James Russell Lowew This morning I walked across a field near my house. It always restores my spirit to be out in the beauty of God’s creations. It is April and the wild grass and oats are lush and so green that they’re almost painful to the eye. I stood still and listened. The song of the meadowlarks was sweet and somewhere in the brush I could hear a pheasant and the trill of other birds, and further off the strident call of a peacock. I looked down and within a small circle around my feet I counted five kinds of wildflowers. “How many varieties of birds and flowers are there?” I wondered. Their numbers might be equal to the national debt for all I know, but whatever they are, they’re beyond my ability to comprehend. But even more difficult for me to understand is why God saw fit to bless us with so abundant an array of His creations. He could have made for us a world of barren hills and parched earth, but in His loving generosity He has provided us with so much beauty it fills my mind and heart with awe. The more I grow in my spiritual life, the more I become aware of how many other blessings He has bestowed upon us. His gifts, His rewards, His promises, His love and forgiveness, His answers to our prayers —has a number been invented that is large enough to count them? I hope I never find out! Oh, Lord, thank you for eyes to see the beauty around me and the heart to appreciate it. Please give me the heart to see your blessings and the grace to receive them. Amen. “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow” (James 1:17 NASB).
by Earline Hunt |