All of us connect to God in different ways. It could be through the service of others or through music.  But for many of us it is through a connection with His creation.  I have known for some time now that I am drawn to God through creation, and that no matter what is going on in my life, that I find peace and solace there.

     As I reflect further, there is a particular place in nature that I am drawn to, and it usually  involves the ocean.  This is where I go when I desire to think or pray or read.  It is also the place that I may run to when there is some deep issue or circumstance that I am dealing with.  Even if my time is limited, just being able to see a large body of water is helpful to me.  So it is not unusual that my times in nature bring me to water.  It could be calm and still or during a storm, I am drawn over and over again to God.  It doesn’t seem to matter what the weather conditions are, the immenseness of it, the light dancing off of it and even the sound of it, brings me to the one who created it and me.

     Ususally, my closest access to the water is the San Francisco Bay, and from my vantage point there is another dynamic that comes into play and that is the skyline of San Francisco.  Though in nature I am still within boundaries of cities, and I can not help but to consider the human parts of God’s creation.  It is all interconnected for me and I am but a small part of it.  It feels good to make this connection, to know that there is more out there that cries out to the creator.  Sallie McFague, writes:

“Perhaps this is the way that we see the presence of God in the world and are nurtured and renewed by it–not through feelings of oceanic oneness with nature, but by paying attention, listening to, learning about the specialness, the difference, the detail of the “wonderful life” of what we are a part”.

So at one level I am out there by the water and I do feel the oneness, but there is more to it and it takes me taking a longer look, and being in dialogue with the creator.  Paying attention, being inquisitive, asking questions, seeing the total picture and then being drawn into the wonder of it all.

     Where is it that you connect with God?   Where do you find the  wonder of it all?  How does that moment in time impact you?

Quote: Sallie McFague, “Should a Christian Love Nature?”, The Spire. Vol. 15, No.3 Spring/Summer, 1993