Nature and the Church

I went to Eagle Creek Park after dinner tonight, just wanted to get out in nature, use my annual pass that I bought, and get away from what man has made to just spend time marveling at God's creations. I saw the most beautiful flower there, definitely my favorite that I've ever seen. And I heard a bird's call that totally surprised me: it was high-pitched and then immediately low. It was really cool. I saw a woodpecker too (the last time I was there I saw a 2 foot tall woodpecker! It was crazy to see!), and it was banging on trees--fun to watch.

I was looking at the grass all around me, and all the ponds that were flooded, the picnic tables that were submerged that left pond scum on all the grass from the water's gradual recession. Then I began to look at how water, a liquid, was rolling over some of the logs nearby. It's so mind blowing how solids, liquids, gases interact on a daily basis with one another. I love looking at the coast, and where lakes are, because there are two, even three states of matter interacting all at once, but each keeps the energy that they have. The water doesn't transfer its higher energy to the land and make the land like water. Fascinating!

And as I was sitting there, I felt God teaching me through His creation. I was looking at the grass, and the trees, and the branches overhanging the water, and just how beautiful it was. Then I started thinking that nature is the same everywhere; it's like God just created a template for what it would generally look like, a system that would govern it all. I've been thinking about different churches, with my graduation coming near and all, and just wondering if I would fit into one. So then I felt ministered to that churches all across the world are like nature. There's the same basic principles and ideas that govern them, but they're all arranged differently and some are in different climates, etc. Just like different areas of forest are all different--like where the trees are planted, how their branches stretch, the grass that grows around them, etc.--but they all have the same wind blow on them, the same Holy Spirit is at each church and moves according to what God wants. God is the best Gardner I know, He plants the best seeds and knows just when to prune his vines so that they produce the most fruit. And all of nature is beautiful, no matter how it's arranged, because it all has the same essence--just like the churches of the world that form THE CHURCH.

Now, I'm not saying that churches aren't flawed, full of broken people who can mess up perfection, but isn't it wonderful to be able to trust our brothers and sisters everywhere because they have the same Spirit as we do! And God reminded me that no matter where I go in life, He will always be there. Not to mention I went back to where the red-wing'd black birds were and just listened to them.