-- Guest Contribution --

My husband or I will often say, "we need to get into the woods."  This is our way of saying that we need to go somewhere -- whether to a local park or to the mountains -- where we can enjoy the beauty and peace of the natural world.  Away from the chaos of man and into the creation of God. 

During our last local outing, we came across a huge tree whose wide base grew out into three separate trunks.  I just stood there, transfixed by its resplendence.  This brought me back to my recent study of Genesis 2.  A particular verse had jumped out at me at the time:  "... God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." (Genesis 2:9)

I have many times sat in wonder of the fact that mankind has the ability to appreciate beauty.  Where did that come from?  I have strongly believed that this simple, yet overlooked, fact is among the most weighty evidence of a Creator.  For in what theory of abiogenesis does the capacity to value beauty and the desire to seek it serve any survivalist purpose?  And now I see in this verse that God created the trees (and what else, mind you?) not just for practical purpose (food), but also for their splendor.  And thus, by necessity, He gave us an innate ability to delight in that which He has deemed pleasant, not for the purpose of worshipping it, but instead for connecting to Him.

When we are drawn -- visually, emotionally, spiritually -- to the beauty of that tree, we are experiencing the gift of our affinity with God.  In those moments, I am reminded and convicted that God created mankind in His image.  And that is Sacred.

JMD, a Guest Contributor