“This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” (1)
Those of you who read my blogs or have read the Artistry of God know I view the natural world around me as a tapestry of delight. It is ever changing with the seasons and the light. Often when I am walking, especially in the mountains, what I see are artistic tableaux laid out before me. Landscape painters portray a scene with trees or water, ocean, forest, and mountains, a scene of larger scale. But within that landscape are smaller tableaux. And sometimes, like medieval tapestries, there is a story being enacted. Often when I am walking on the mountain trails, I see a small tableau of ferns and wildflowers. They may be snuggled into a crevice or old log, or simply framed by the forest floor. Sometimes it’s a tiny fern juxtaposed with an unusual mushroom. Other times, the mushrooms look like a family posing for a photo.
Last week I came across a woodland snail eating his breakfast of dead leaves. I wondered what stories the snail could tell. Another time, high on a knoll in the Smokies, I found a clutch of butterflies feasting on the mud in the path.
Sometimes the shapes of the trees or seedpods remind me of imaginary creatures. One of my favorites is the milkweed pod, which puts out its silky seeds in a waterfall pattern, making the pod and the seeds appear like a wizened gnome in the forest. The Cherokees created trail marker trees in the Smokies that look like dinosaurs in the woods. They bent a sapling over to the ground, pointing out the direction of their trail. Over time, the tree would grow, and they’d have a permanent marker for the trail in all seasons.
As I gaze out across my garden, the juxtaposition of flowers blend in texture and color as if the tapestry weaver had used different thicknesses of thread. We create gardens because we want tableaux within the huge tapestry of our landscaping or yard. When I see my Shasta daisies blooming against the green border of viburnums, I’m drawn to examine how each one catches the sunlight on its petals and leaves. A perfect tableau of summer.
I could do an entire blog on the tableaux of cloud formations. I can’t count the number of times I’ve pulled over on a road just to watch the sky and clouds change. This is especially true in the mountains where you can watch the storms coming over the blue ridges, often leaving low-lying clouds in the valleys. After a storm, the sky turns brilliant blue and often the clouds are backlit by the sun. I can sit on the porch and watch the sky transform itself from break of day to a magnificent sunset.
The more I encounter these miniature tableaux, the more I realize the Lord did not simply make all the plants and animals. He placed them and created them to portray the depth of His creation. They are everywhere, if we will stop and look for them. But it takes slowing down to appreciate them while they’re in front of you. If you are intent only on the summit of the mountain, or the number of steps you are taking, you will unknowingly miss His artistry. There are literally hundreds of tableaux every day that present themselves to you. If you want to see them, just ask Him. He will gladly show you.
“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
Psalm 150:6 NIV
- Psalm 118:23 NIV
