Nature is Sacramental

Someone told me today that a friend visiting from Iraq had told her that they say "insallah"- in god's will- to everything. She thought this is truly what brings Peace - leaving all in God's hands. The friend visiting from Iraq also pointed out how we don't see this faithful surrender in our society because of all the infrastructure set in place. And I would definitely have to agree to some degree that this is a huge problem in our society - Infrastructure clouds our minds and distract us from seeing the clear discernment of the Truth.

When we strip away all the "make up" of this world and see it raw, in its natural state, we come to realize how scary reality really is, how fragile we really are, and how quickly we can disappear. However, at the same time, when we are faced with this raw nature, beauty overflows our minds and it impossible to deny the presence of God, as we look to the stars that are held above in their place by Him.

"I think we have two choices in the face of such big beauty: terror or awe. And this is precisely why we attempt to chart God, because we want to be able to predict Him, to dissect Him, to carry Him around in our dog and pony show. We are too proud to feel awe and too fearful to feel terror. We reduce Him to math so we don't have to fear Him, and yet the Bible tells us fear is the appropriate response, that it is the beginning of wisdom. Does this mean God is going to hurt us? No. But I stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon once, behind a railing, and though I was never going to fall off the edge, I feared the thought of it. " - Donald Miller

I believe Satan uses infrastructure - roads, buildings, homes, etc. - even though it's not bad when properly used for God's kingdom and can definitely be a blessing, at times to lie to us and whisper to us that this is what brings security, comfort, and peace. All the "make up" tempts us to curl up in its delusion to become comfortable and to forget about the REAL world that God has created as a testament of His Glory. While infrastructure can pave the way for proper growth within God's council, I believe it inevitably leads us to depend less and less on God - we strive to gain more and more security and control over our lives by building and calculating for our future blindly. We go about this lifestyle without realizing the true source of it all - source of our logic, source of our strength, and source of our purpose. Everything becomes more and more about ourselves and less and less about God. We become self-addicts. Similar to waking up from a dream to find reality, we must wake up from this delusion and see it from another perspective. Maybe looking at the world without all the "make up" might be a good start - flushing out all the mirage in front of our eyes and seeing nature. It's extremely hard especially in our corporate driven society, but it may be the only way not to be sucked in to the trap of believe that tall buildings representing power and security.

"Nature to a saint is sacramental. If we are children of God, we have tremendous treasure in Nature. In every wind that blows, in every night and day of the year, in every sign of the sky, in every blossoming and in every withering of the earth, there is a real coming of God to us if we will simply use our starved imagination to realize it. The test of spiritual concentration is bringing the imagination in to captivity. " - Utmost for His Highest