"We all want quiet. We all want beauty.....We all need space. Unless we have it, we cannot reach that sense of quiet in which whispers of better things come to us gently". This was written by Octavia Hill, Co-Founder of the National Trust, in 1883.
I suspect Octavia was a Christian and knew the importance of "being still". To be still anywhere and allow God's presence to come but to be in the beauty of nature, for me, is even more special. Because He created it all for our pleasure and also His which is why He said "It is good". When I moved to the Chiltern Hills I was, and still am, convinced it was a call of God. But after a few years here I did not feel I had seen any fruit from seeds I'd planted. I was walking in the beautiful countryside surrounding my house one day with a very good friend and said this to her. Her reply was, "Don't you think it is possible that He may have just brought you here for your pleasure, knowing how much you love nature?" She was right. As soon as I realised that it took the pressure off. I still believe Father has a plan for me here apart from making my heart sing every time I hear a skylark or see a newborn lamb. And the plan is to love people as He loves us. That's probably the hardest mission statement but I'm working on it! If people see something in us as we try to walk like Jesus did then that should make our hearts sing!
We have been given this beautiful world. Can you imagine walking in THE garden with Father alongside you? Him pointing out various fruits and herbs, trees and flowers. He only asked us not to eat the fruit of the one tree.......... The fall has so much to answer for, so much destruction caused by us, to human life and the world around us. We are stewards of the world, it is not our true home, but we need to take responsibility and stop blaming what happened in the garden. Satan will never stop trying to convince us that we can be greater than God and therefore we can control nature. Everything the Father created has a purpose and everything has an amazing way of overcoming whatever obstacles are thrown at them. Did you see the charred trees in Australia that started growing beautiful pink flowers? Evolutionists will try and tell us that creatures adapt themselves because of their environment but I believe everything God created has an ability to adapt because of the DNA He gave them, probably knowing how we were going to mess the world up.
Let's do everything we can to help preserve this world for generations to come. We have a future far greater and more spectacular than this world. I sometimes find that hard to imagine! So lets appreciate what we have while we are here. Lets take time to be quiet and wait for the whispers........ "Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper"........ 1 Kings:11,12
