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The wonder of God bannerThe Wonder of God 

Eric Beaumont ('retired' Elder)

As I am sitting at my desk I am looking at a feather which has been discarded by a bird in flight.  I am amazed by its perfect structure and purposeful but elegant design.  Isn’t this just how God works and lets us wonder at what he has created?  For me there are at least five access areas to the spiritual and supernatural realm in which God lives.  You may have others, or there could be a large overlap in our access points.

I would for the moment like to consider the area given us by the continued presence of God in what he has made.  It is as though God creates and leaves a little bit of himself behind to show us who made it in the first place.  This is a little bit like an artist signing his painting.  Going back to the feather on my desk; this reminds me of the vast array of kinds of birds even in this country, ranging from the tiny wren, so inconspicuous and barely audible, to the mighty golden eagle, master of wild places.  God is so generous, almost profligate, in his diversity!

In the insect section of creation there are well over a thousand different kinds of mosquito in the world.  Or, closer to home, we have over a hundred kinds of hover fly in Britain, all mimicking other insects such as bees or wasps to avoid capture.  Mosquitoes sometimes seem to be our enemy but hover flies always our friends because they pollinate so many plants.  Why this huge diversity?  I would suggest that the reason is that the world contains so many different environments that every species has its own niche somewhere.

Why I am writing this is that I feel that we do not take time to stop and wonder at what God has done.  For example, while we were at Westpoint some of us went to the beach one afternoon and had a great time.  I picked up a handful of sand and looked carefully at a single grain of sand.  Of course God’s hand is in the mighty tides of the oceans but it is also in the perfect crystalline shape of a single grain of sand.  Outside our house is a narrow grass verge in which some wild flowers grow.  How many passers by have seen the very smallest of these and thanked God for the tiny things of creation?  I love the slightly ridiculous notion of tree hugging, used as a way of estimating a tree’s age, but God understands the very largest of trees, some of them thousands of years old.

I find it a great blessing to stop, look, watch and perhaps name the variety of trees and plants, each in its own season.  Most of all I find it astonishing that God has the patience to stop, look and notice even me in my insignificance and wait for me to respond to his clear trademarks everywhere around us.  And if me, then of course you also come under God’s care, notice and love.  He wants you to notice him, get to know him and love him as he loves you.  I am fortunate in having a loving wife and we often look into each other’s eyes, thus renewing and preserving our mutual undying love.  May I suggest that you look into God’s eyes, see his love flooding into your life and return it with all the joy that love creates.