The Upper Room devotional reflection for Sunday, June 26, 2022, comes to us from Jerry Browning of Arizona.
1Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them.5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:1-9 NIV
“Still Creating”
While I don’t consider myself to be an expert on gardening, I do enjoy my small planter and border flower gardens. I read about how to maintain my plants, and I try to keep them free of weeds and watered according to their needs. It occurred to me one day as I saw the beginnings of some blooms on my Angelonia that through that plant, I was given the gift of watching God in the creation process.
For most of my life, I have thanked God for the things God has created – the earth, its plants and animals, the universe – with the mentality that it is all past. But as I watch my plants blooming, I am reminded that God is still creating. I find new blessings when I see a colorful sunset, a falling star, a lunar eclipse, healing within a troubled family, or a new start after forgiveness. A multitude of blessings surround me as God’s creation continues. And as God said in Genesis, “It is very good.”
Friends –
Jerry Browning’s perspective that when we cultivate even a small parcel of the Earth, we are participating in God’s good and holy creation. It seems to me that this also happens whenever we take actions that help to preserve our environment, whether we are being careful about recycling, cleaning up waste in our neighborhoods, or using only safe chemicals to clean our homes and fertilize our yards. Also, I believe that, whenever we are kind or helpful to another soul, we contribute to God’s creation because each of us is part of God’s beautiful creation. I invite each of you to look around you and consider ways through which you can contribute to the fruitfulness of the beauty of God’s creation.
--Pastor bea
Prayer:
Dear God, we pray that your Holy Spirit will keep us aware of the creation that continues to flourish around us. Help us remember that “it is very good.” Amen.
--Jerry Browning
Prayer Focus:
To see God’s Presence in Creation.
Thought for the Day:
When I care for creation, I join in God’s creative work.
God saw everything that he had made, and, behold it was very good
Genesis 1:31 (KJV)