What is Something Beautiful in Nature that You are Grateful for?
I LOVED last week's question because I really enjoyed the imagery of all of your answers and the descriptions by senses. I think it helped explain why we like those places and situations of peace so much.
This week's question is: What is something beautiful in nature that you are grateful for?
My comment is too long so I am going to break it up into a few different comments:
ReplyDeleteI love so very many things about nature. Nature is beautiful to behold - in all its seasons and landscapes. Everything in nature testifies of God and His ability to create, to magnify, to make beautiful, to make purpose, and bring about miracles. And I believe that as we are good stewards of this earth, and participate in its care and maintenance, we can partner with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in that process of creation and beautifying.
I love every season. I love to watch the snowfall and listen to its peaceful silence. Did you see the snowflakes today? They were perfect and it was easy to see all of their tiny little detail. They looked like mini paper snowflake cutouts. I love the smell of the earth after it rains and how all the colors look more vibrant. I love the sound of thunder and lightning and the feeling you get in your chest when the sky rumbles. I LOVE the wind. It makes me feel like there is magic in the air. And I love feeling the wind in my hair - especially on my bike or in the car with the windows rolled down. I love spring time when everything starts to come alive and the colors are soft and pretty and fresh and everything smells good. I love summertime and the heat, and the warmth of the sun on my skin. I love to play outside in the summertime. And fall is my favorite season. I love the colors, and the sound of leaves crunching beneath my feet. I love the smell of fall in the air, the crispness to the temperature. And of course I love pumpkins.
But the first thing that came to my mind when pondering this question, was that I am most grateful for the lessons that we learn from nature - about our relationship with Heavenly Father and His eternal truths. I actually gave a talk on this a couple of years ago when I was speaking with Dad. Here are some of my thoughts:
1. God is a God of miracles. John (11:25) teaches: "He is the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Spring time teaches us this pattern so beautifully. That we must let some things go or die or be cut down, in order for new growth to enter - to make us spiritually mightier and more glorious than before. President Howard W. Hunter (April 1989 Gen Conf) said: “In this beautiful time of year, we remember that death has no sting and the grave has no dominion. I testify that after every winter’s season there is the miracle of springtime ahead—in our personal journey through life as well as in nature. These restorations and renewals are a gift from the Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate ‘man for all seasons.' Once we start to recognize the many miraculous and blessed manifestations of God and Christ in our lives—the everyday variety as well as restored sight to the blind and restored hearing to the deaf—we may be truly bewildered at the unexplainable principles and processes that bring about such wonders.”
Delete2. Heavenly Father’s definition and expectations for becoming perfected is very different from what Satan would have us believe. In Matthew (5:48) we are commanded to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” This celestial goal may seem well-beyond our reach. Satan uses these godly ideals as curses and condemnations to plague our minds and diminish our efforts. However, Elder Holland explained that "scripture is offered as a tribute to who and what God the Eternal Father is and what we can achieve with Him in eternity. Is it to remind us of just how magnificent the measure of what the fullness of Christ really is – to inspire in us greater love and desire to be like Him.”
There are so many patterns in nature that teach us about the journey to perfection. These patterns can teach us about patience in Heavenly Father’s eternal plan, that our testimonies grow line upon line, that we need the light of the gospel to nourish us regularly and consistently. We live in a fallen world that is not yet celestial. Perfection will only be achieved through the grace of Christ – who offers us salvation from sorrow, sin, and death. Understanding His atonement, and working towards becoming like Christ, can also offer us salvation from our own persistent self-criticism in our lifelong pursuit of refinement.
And I love this quote by Alice Walker: “In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.”
3. Nature helps me feel and recognize the Holy Ghost. Because nature is peaceful and quiet, sometimes I need that space and safety and contentment I feel in nature to hear the Holy Ghost.
DeleteThere are many examples from the scriptures of miraculous events that occurred in nature: the first vision, Christ’s atonement, Enoch’s prayer and conversion, the brother of Jared seeing Christ’s personage and being taught by him directly, Moses receiving the 10 commandments, the story of Nephi and his bow, and all that occurred in the garden of Eden.
Scientist George Washington Carver said: “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”
4. This one I am still trying to fully understand, but I think that understanding the doctrine of creation is essential to salvation. I read a talk by Elder Bruce R McConkie from 1982 where he was explaining this. “God, the Father of us all, ordained and established a plan of salvation whereby His spirit children might advance and progress and become like Him. It is His gospel – the system that saves and exalts – and it consists of three pillars of eternity – the most important events that ever have or will occur in all eternity. They are the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. Without a knowledge of all of them, it is not possible to know the truth about any one of them. The Fall was made possible because an infinite Creator made the earth and man and all forms of life in such a state that they could fall. This fall involved a change of status. All things were so created that they could fall or change, and thus was introduced the type and kind of existence needed to put into operation all of the terms and conditions of the Father’s eternal plan of salvation. Knowing that the Creation is the father of the Fall, and that the Fall made possible the Atonement, and that salvation itself comes because of the Atonement, we are in a position to put the revealed knowledge about the Creation in a proper perspective.”
In the scriptures, Abraham teaches us that the earth is the place where God’s children experience mortality, exercise agency, learn from their experiences, improve, and progress. The earth is where the Savior took a mortal body, completed the incomparable gift of the Atonement, and brought about the Resurrection. In the Doctrine and Covenants, Christ tells us that the earth can teach us. We can learn the laws, principles, and patterns by which it functions. And in Alma, we learn respect and humility when we work with nature and not against it.
So, if you're still reading - I am grateful that the beauty in nature and its patterns teach us so very much about God's doctrine.
So cool and insightful and brilliant!!
DeleteSo, so, so many things about nature. But to pick just one- the sun! I love when it rises. Layla and I did sunrise walks when we first moved to Texas. It was so fun (and beautiful). Y’all, the best sunrises and sunsets are in TX. Bar none. 🙌🏻
ReplyDeleteI also love sunsets. Beach sunsets are the coolest and second best to Texas 😊.
I love when the sun is out and shiny but I also really love when the clouds are more over-powering than the sun and the days are dark. It is calming to me.
And I love sitting in the sun, too- duh! Especially pool-side. It does a lot for my soul! 🌞
Ooh, sunrises and sets are beautiful. So glad you will be able to be pool-side again soon ,-)
DeleteI love water. Mountain creeks, the ocean, geysers and the Upper & Lower Falls at Yellowstone, the Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone's midway basin...can you tell I love Yellowstone?
ReplyDeleteAround here, I love a summer thunderstorm, especially if there's lightning to watch. I love the change of seasons - blossoms in the spring, temperatures warm enough to swim in the summer, leaves changing color in the fall, and the first snow of winter.
I love how every landscape around the world is unique and beautiful in its own way. I also think the variety of human faces is fascinating. Everyone has two eyes and ears, a nose and mouth. Yet somehow every person who ever lived has had a unique face. I can't help wondering how God hasn't run out of ideas for faces yet; he just keeps creating new ones! Fascinating to me.
And I forgot to add that I love clouds. I especially love laying on the grass or trampoline and looking for pictures in the clouds. In high school after doing a science unit on the types of clouds - cumulus, cumulonimbus, stratus, and cirrus - I decided I wanted to be a meteorologist. I loved watching the weather segment on the news. I didn't end up pursuing that career, but I still love meteorology.
DeleteSame!! I love looking for pictures in the clouds, too.
DeleteWater is a great one! I have always really loved the ocean but recently I’m more of a lake person. Totally thought I’d want an Oceanside condo one day but the last 5-ish years I’ve changed my mind. Wouldn’t a lake-house be so, so fun!?? That’s my dream 💯
One of the pictures I took long ago was at winter time of the old bridge on the way up to McCall. The scene felt perfect as there was snow-covering the rocks and trees. The snow even seemed to cover the blemishes of the bridge that showed how old and tattered it was. The river looked amazing. I pulled off to the side of the road and stopped the vehicle just to take a picture that time. Most of the time I pass through that section, i don't feel that enamored by the view. Grateful that God gave us this beautiful earth and to have these moments to be awestruck.
ReplyDeleteEverything is magical when it snows
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