Beauty in Nature

If you read awhile back about my turkey hunting experience and why I love “the farm” so much, you’ll remember my fondness for the simplicity of nature and how creation continually points to how incredible the Lord is. It is sometimes difficult to find the words to express the vast beauty and majesty of the Creator, and when my pen fails me, I tend to turn towards my camera. Longing to capture a snapshot reminder of how beautiful this world truly is and how intricately woven every single aspect of my life is with the One who formed it all.

Part of why I love to travel has a lot to do with the vast diversity in landscapes across this planet. Regionally, the architecture varies due to cultural differences and these marvelous creations point not only to human creative ingenuity, but always point back to the purity of nature to me in their beauty. The palette of colors mimicking the vibrancy of a sunset over the ocean or the changing leaves in Autumn before they float from their limbs and blanket the ground in crunchy reminders of the life that once was. The stillness of glass, echoing the open waters and the vastness of the sky. The richness of mahogany and cedar, polished to perfection and capturing the scent of the wilderness it longs to recreate. But more than the steeples, doorsteps, and window panes that permeate the cities, the lushness of vegetation in these countries is what steals my heart. The fullness of the rain forest, dripping with life, entangled together and overflowing with untouched potential. The piercing blues of the seas, covering an immeasurable distance softly capped by snow white billows as a reminder of the power it holds. Each view, a glimpse into the nature of God. A tiny sampling of His very character.

For me, it’s always in the fall where I see His glory the most. It’s in the fall that the process of renewal begins. It’s in the fall that we begin to move from barren to blossoming, by shedding all that is keeping us from Him and exposing our very core to be reborn. Perhaps the reason the leaves turn to the deepest shade of crimson just before the fall has everything to do with this process or renewal. There is beauty in this moment of letting go and surrendering everything we think the world wants us to be; to become broken, brittle, and dependent of the Giver of Life alone for transformation and new beginnings.