French Lake Park, Plymouth MN October 21, 2018

I love this season of the year, when the day’s are crisp, air is fresh and all of the world around us is blazing into color. The wonder of God’s creation touches our hearts, from the Rocky Mountains, to a Lake Superior North Shore forest and to  the oceans that fix the boundaries of our nation. Maybe that is the reason so many people choose the hymn “How Great Thou Art” when asked for a favorite. Stuart K. Hine writes, “When through the woods and Forest glades I wander, I hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees. When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur – And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze – Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee; how great thou art, how great thou art.”

God truly has made for us a world of color, beauty and goodness. All of which tells us something of God and God’s plan for our lives. God wants us to know beauty. God delights when we  find joy in the scent of a rose, in the touch of a child’s soft hands on our face, in the song of a bird and in the taste of grandma’s chocolate cake. God has set us in a place where we stand in wonder at the awesome hand which designed our world.

That this same God is interested and invested in each of our lives, gives us cause to ponder what our creator has in mind for us. Why does God bother with us? Why has God chosen to be part of our lives? What plan does God have for us? The scripture says, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of mortal conceived, what God has prepared for those who love God.” (I Corinthians 2:9)

I offer no simple answers for the questions, only a confidence that the one who created us and set us in a world of beauty, intends the very best for each of our lives. Our task is to trust God to lead us day by day, knowing that we are held in the hands of a God who intends good for us and who loves us more than we know how to love ourselves.