Divine Nature

If I thought I would have the energy at each day's end to blog after hiking the hills of Scotland, boy was I wrong-o. So here is a much pined-for entry...

We begin with a photo of a large, carved stone inscribed to honor John Ruskin. This rests at Derwentwater Lake in the heart of England's most beautifully scenic shire, Cumbria, with its deep, rolling hills of green, gold, and purple, its placid lakes and rushing waterfalls.

THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS AROUND YOU IN THE AIR THAT YOU BREATHE/HIS GLORY IN THE LIGHT THAT YOU SEE AND IN THE FRUITFULNESS OF THE EARTH AND THE JOY OF ITS CREATURES/HE HAS WRITTEN FOR YOU, DAY BY DAY, HIS REVELATION AS HE HAS GRANTED YOU, DAY BY DAY, YOUR DAILY BREAD.

Confession #103: I have always felt closest to the creator of the universe while in nature. Spending a Sunday in the woods connects me to all living things and puts me in such a spiritual place. No cathedral on earth, no service of pipe organ and rote prayer can lay open to me the wonders of a divine plan as well as England's Lake District. In a church, all the focus is on man and a man-made relationship to God. But what is that relationship unless in close alliance to the rest of His creation here? In nature, I am reminded of human's place within the greater design. Guess it's the pantheist in me, but I am tempted to re-phrase the bumper sticker to "Know Nature, Know God."