Gratitude Journal – God’s Beautiful Creation
God, thank you for your beautiful creation. I believe it allows me to know you better and reveals your wonder in ways both grand and small. This season we are also thinking about music. When I think about creation, I also think about the Chris Tomlin song “Indescribable.” The opening lines of the song begin…
From the highest of heights to the depths of the seaCreations revealing Your majestyFrom the colors of fall to the fragrance of springEvery creature unique in the song that it singsAll exclaiming
Indescribable, uncontainableYou placed the stars in the skyAnd You know them by nameYou are amazing, God
Just think—we have plants as tiny as clover and as towering as the redwoods. We have seasons, at least where I live, that paint the landscape with change.
It’s funny how my perspective shifts with time. After the harvest, and especially in the depths of winter, I’ll drive through the countryside and think the brown tones and wide-open spaces are barren and ugly. But give it a few weeks, and I begin to see the beauty in the dirt, the dead grass, and the open land. And within it all, I find a profound amount of hope. This is how the landscape needs to look at times—to give space for new growth. These seemingly desolate places are beautiful in their own ways.
I thought about waiting a few days to put this gratitude into words, but today feels like the perfect time. Honestly, I could write about the beauty of creation most days. But right now, we’re in that in-between time—the season when the grass wonders if it’s time to grow, and the bulbs beneath the soil are stretching toward the light. Look closely, and you’ll see little green sprouts poking through.
And sometimes, we need to hold onto gratitude when we worry that everything is just going to be a muddy mess. But even in the mud, there is joy. If I ever doubt that, I need only think back to childhood—when mud and water puddles were an invitation, not an inconvenience. Even now, with a dog and muddy paws making a mess, I’m reminded that there is beauty in all of creation.
But most of this reflection has been about plant life. It doesn’t yet touch on the insects, the animals, the songs of birds, the sun, moon, and stars—or even the miracle of the human body itself. Each part of creation tells a story of your wonder.
I’m reminded of Job, who, in his questioning, was told to look at creation for proof of your power and presence:
"But ask the animals, and they will teach you,or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,or let the fish in the sea inform you.Which of all these does not knowthat the hand of the Lord has done this?In his hand is the life of every creatureand the breath of all mankind."— Job 12:7-10
I wonder what Adam and Eve saw in the garden before brokenness entered the world—how they compared the beauty of Eden with their new home outside of it. Was the burning bush the most awe-inspiring sight Moses ever saw, or was it the parting of the Red Sea? Or maybe his greatest encounter was on the mountaintop, where he stood in your presence.
Lord, help me see your creation with wonder today. Let me find your presence in the sprouts and the mud, in the stillness of winter and the bursting forth of spring. Thank you for showing yourself through the world you made. Give me childlike eyes to see things afresh—even the joy of shapes in the clouds, or a tree branch that looks like it’s reaching down to us or stretching out to you. Amen.
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