.discovering God's relationship to nature.

The following is a paper I wrote for a class I am taking right now: Christian Theology and the Environment.  We had to spend an hour outside and reflect on God's relationship to nature.  I like this kind of assignment.  No research needed.  Just tell of my experience and what I learned.  Here's what I thought about.

In spending time outside, in a local ravine, thinking about God’s relation to the positive aspects of that ravine specifically and nature in general, I thought about God as Creator.  As I thought about Creator, I thought about the relationship to the created.  A creator does not become the created – the Creator is not the dog, or the snow, or the tree.  These things that have been created are an expression of the Creator’s thoughts.  I do suppose that this could be applied to both the positive and negative aspects of nature.  For the purposes here, I see the positive aspects of nature those parts that I wanted to engage in.  For example, I wanted to engage with the birds on the branches, but I didn’t care to think too much about the dead leaves on those branches.    I wanted to play with the dog, but I did not desire to be covered in slobber.  I wanted to engage with and touch the white, puffy snow – I didn’t care to touch the yellow or brown, packed down snow.  God’s relation to these positive aspects of nature is to express and communicate the vastness of His thoughts, as Creator.

I spent a few moments watching a pair of chickadees interacting.  I was intrigued by the fact that these two birds could communicate with one another.  Chickadees have a “voice” so to speak, and can respond and engage with another of its kind.  I thought about how God created species to interact within and outside of each other and how it all works together.  The birds communicate to each other, they can nest in the tree, and they eat the berries.  These birds were not created to be independent, self-sustaining creatures.  They have community, so to speak and they have a home and food provided by things that are not chickadees.  This is vast.  The thought and detail that is expressed in these tiny little birds goes way beyond being able to communicate and nest in a tree.

A playful dog came running up to me from behind and wanted to grab my mitten and play.  He bounded on ahead - playfulness.  There are some aspects of creation that provide for great, big playgrounds (the naturally occurring kind).  This dog enjoyed playing – whether it’s with a stick, another dog, or a human.  I enjoy playing with dogs; I enjoy playing in snow or water.  Again, the vastness of thought of the Creator is again displayed.  Nature can be something that can be enjoyed by me and dogs. 

I felt, touched, and formed a handful of white, puffy snow.  It sparkled, could be formed in any way I wished it, and felt extremely cold.  I thought about the uniqueness of snow, and that it is only in winter that the ground is completely covered by these frozen stores of water with the anticipation of spring.  Snow didn’t have to be sparkly, or frozen, or unique, but that is how He wanted it and He has declared that what He creates is good.

I tried to liken God to an artist, or a sculptor, or an architect, but none of these descriptions were enough.  God is a different kind of Creator.  What He has created is vast and immense.  God created and displayed the vastness of His thoughts because He wanted the viewers of this display to be drawn into His goodness.  He has displayed nature to interact and be interacted with, to enjoy, and to show His goodness.  He values goodness.