Infinite variations on the theme of love.
Have you ever thought about how the Lord clothes the earth with beauty wherever you look? Every season of the year, and all of it for our enjoyment? This is so true in summer, when the colors explode all around us as the flowers bloom in abundance.
Granted, we put some of this beauty to practical use such as the minerals and petroleum in the ground, the trees, the water, the farmland, even the quarries. But generally, the beauty we see every day is mostly a gracious gift of love from our heavenly Father, who asks nothing in return.
This time of year the majesty of His creation is especially profound—the woods carpeted with tall green grasses, a full canopy of leaves, flowers blooming, bird singing. Contemplate how many birds are living on this earth and how many He has graced your presence with. In my backyard, I can count over two dozen. And that is a microcosm of the entire world. I once did a web search for tropical hummingbirds and was stunned by the sheer number of colorful creatures I saw. I’m blessed to have two of them return to my yard each year. Think how silent the world would be without bird song, without the flutter of wings and those perky faces brightening up your day.
Every tree, plant, blade of grass is part of an infinite variation of the original creation. Yes, there are different types of trees, such as oaks with the genus name Quercus. They all share common characteristics. But no two oaks, even in the same species such as rubra or red oak, are alike. Each leaf may look like the others, but it is an individual creation. There are categories of snowflakes, but each is unique. No two people are exactly the same—including identical twins. Each person carries their own unique DNA.
After the original creation in Genesis, the Lord chose to refresh everything each spring. The rose bushes and shrubs in my garden continue to grow and bloom, but they get an entirely new wardrobe each spring. Their leaves and flowers are new and fresh every season. I can look at my English roses and see how the petal arrangement of each one differs from the others even in the same bush. And each rose petal is slightly different depending on where it opens on the central axis.
What is even more extraordinary is this. Human beings are the only part of the original creation that can become new creations. This happens when we are born again. We’re not reborn from the womb, but we are born again by the Spirit. When you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, it’s not visible. But ask anyone who has been born again, they will tell you how new they are. The Spirit then manifests its presence by the gifts the Lord gives with that infilling. This only happens when we recognize His Lordship over our lives and believe He died as the punishment for our sins—past, present and future. We are the only part of creation with this possibility.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (1)
And every new creation in Christ displays an infinite variation of the spiritual work he has prepared for us to do even before we are born.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (2)
Enjoy the beauty around you every day, and note He created it just for you, a testimony of His deep love and faithfulness.
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
Romans 120 ESV
- 2d Corinthians 5:17 ESV (Italics mine.)
- Ephesians 2:10 ESV
