Awesome Wonder

“What do you find more impressive–the beauty of nature or masterpieces created by human beings?”

Joe asked this question as we were eating the peanut butter sandwiches we had brought along on a hike.  We were sitting on a mountain peak and looking out over valleys and forests, and onto more mountains.  We had recently been to an art museum and had marveled at the genius and skill that enabled painters to make layers of oil look like human skin and sculptors to make marble look like folds of cloth.

We believe that both the beauty of nature and works of human creativity find their source in God, so the question isn’t about which is closer to the Creator.  As we considered the shapes and colors of the mountains, the clouds, the trees; felt the breeze, and watched as small birds wheeled by and large ones hung in the currents of air, we decided the beauty of nature is what awes us most.

Today was another day like that.  We weren’t on the top of a mountain, but as we gazed at the mountains all around us here in Stellenbosch, near Capetown, South Africa, we felt awe and appreciation for the beauty God made.

In God’s hands are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are God’s also (Psalm 95:4).

How grateful we are to be held in God’s hands in the company of such beauty.

What awes you most?