When you ask people what it is in their lives that they find most beautiful and brings them nearer to God you will hear some say that it's sitting in a bass boat on a beautiful lake with your line in the water. Others will tell you it's staring at a magnificent sunset. Still others will say it's viewing a snow covered mountain in the Rockies. One of my favorites is taking a train ride through Vermont and New Hampshire in the Fall when the colors of the leaves literally explode in your eyes.
In Celano's "Second Life," writing, a first hand account of St. Francis of Assisi, he explained that Francis saw God in all of Creation. "St. Francis praised the Artist in every one of his works; whatever he found in things made, he referred to their Maker. He rejoiced in all the works of the Lord's hands, and with joyful vision saw into the reason and cause that gave them life. In beautiful things he came to know Beauty itself. To him all things were good. They cried out to him, 'He who made us is infinitely good.' By tracing his footprints in things Francis followed the Beloved wherever he led. He made, from created things, a ladder to his throne." We see this even more profoundly in Francis's composing of the "Canticle of the Creatures" the year before his death.
But here is something to ponder: "What is God's greatest creation?" Is it a tree, a mountain, or the stars in the sky? Although these wonders all point directly to God and is a wonderment to all mankind, that is not God's greatest creation. "We" are God's greatest creation. You and me!
Question: "When you look at other people, do you recognize in them the magnificence of God's creation?" Better yet, "When people look at me, do they see the magnificence of God's creation?"
Chris
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