Daily Devotions - Wednesday, January 14

Beauty Surrounds Us

We awakened to a light snowfall several days ago. Watching the snowflakes drift down toward the spotlight that illumines a flag in the yard was truly awesome during those pre-dawn minutes as workday preparations were completed.

Over the holidays we visited with family in Colorado and one day we visited the zoo. There was beauty in watching our granddaughters hold up crackers of feed while the giraffes stuck out their long tongues to receive the crackers. We witnessed the beauty of animals in creation and the excitement of little girls. In the midst of wintertime there are many, many reminders that the earth is the Lord’s.

Here is a prayer written for the United Nation’s Environmental Sabbath:
Great Spirit, give us hearts to understand;
Never to take from creation’s beauty more than we give;
Never to destroy wantonly for the furtherance of greed;
Never to deny to give our hands for the building of Earth’s beauty;
Never to take from her what we cannot use.

Give us hearts to understand
That to destroy Earth’s music is to create confusion;
That to wreck her appearance is to blind us to beauty;
That to callously pollute her fragrance is to make a house of stench;
That as we care for her she will care for us. Amen.

Prayer: Creator God, thank you for the beauty of the earth and the glory of the skies. Amen.

Ben Keckler
01.14.09