Spilled on the earth are all the joys of heaven…
Apparently the name “Wendy” means The Wanderer. Who decides these things? No matter, it suits me well so I have claimed it for myself. I’ve always had a bent for mental wandering. Even as a child, I can vividly recall looking out of classroom windows and getting completely lost in thought. Ditto for car rides. Among my fondest memories from childhood through adulthood are those that have an established pattern involving the great outdoors. The exquisite beauty found in nature has always beckoned me.
All who wander are not lost, we are told. Indeed! I’m an avid walker (weather permitting). If there are time constraints, a “short” walk for me lasts an hour, but I usually put in a fairly brisk-paced 90 minutes to 2 hours. As an adult, my physical wandering has become a time of sacred worship. I love getting lost in wonder and praise at the handiwork of our beautiful Creator. So while I may be wandering, I am anything but lost—to the contrary—I am completely and gratefully found!
For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds; I sing for joy at the works of Your hands. Psalm 92:4
Not long ago I was curious to discover how many miles I was actually walking each day. As I recall, it was around eight miles. What stood out to me the most among the listed stats was that it didn’t recommend walking as the best choice for “exercise”. The reasoning behind it was that you could get the same amount of benefits in remarkably less time by using an alternate choice such as gym equipment. But this misses my whole point!
Yes, the older I get, the more I need the physical benefits of walking. Yet, for me the priority of my passion goes far beyond the physical. This is a time set aside to center my thoughts on the things that matter most. It’s a time to drink in the beauty of Creation and praise its Designer; it’s a time to pray for loved ones and to offer my contrite confessions in the never-ending struggle to grow in personal discipleship.
To wander and to wonder is a grand thing. Someone very wise once said, “Sit ye, rock and think”. So simple, yet so profound. Sometimes we just need to slow down and ponder things a while; we need to let a Voice, other than our own, speak to us. Listening is so very beneficial to our soul’s direction in life. Walking does that for me, it brings clarity and purpose for my life.
Every passing day brings with it the opportunity for us to experience an abundance of joy and a life that beats with extraordinary appreciation for the world God has created and for the life He has given us. Anyone may appreciate a sunrise or sunset, but until you know it’s Creator, you cannot fully understand the true gift that it brings. The fact that God has created for us a world so filled with beauty, for us to admire and to revel in—it is truly mind-bending. He is literally infused in every facet of Creation. There is nowhere that we can turn and not see Him.
The inimitable words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning continue ringing loud and long and clear…Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God.
The great outdoors has become for me, a private altar, a personal Eden, and an edifying embrace of all of my senses. A good portion of “setting our minds on things above” can come through witnessing the evidence of God through Creation. We are able to feast on its beauty, to contemplate such delicate intricacies among its vastness, and to acknowledge God’s supremacy in the matter. With our eyes fixed upon the Lord, this can become an everyday feasting, washed afresh with new meaning with the dawning of each new day.
For The Beauty Of The Earth
Chris Rice
For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
Of the day and of the night,
For the beauty of each hour,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind’s delight,
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For Thy Church, that evermore
Lifte’th holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the martyrs’ crown of light,
For Thy prophets’ eagle eye,
For Thy bold confessors’ might,
For the lips of infancy.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For Thy virgins’ robes of snow,
For Thy maiden mother mild,
For Thyself, with hearts aglow,
Jesu’, Victim undefiled.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
For each perfect gift of Thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of Heaven.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.