Just Another Day in Paradise

Matthew 6:28-29 “Why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.”

The other day, I was in the Waiting Room of the Radiology department for a scheduled CT Scan for another probable kidney stone coming on. I picked up one of the seemingly hundred magazines in the office to pass time before they called me, and found an interesting article about our human tendency to quickly become accustomed to the magnificence of God’s Creation (though the author wrote from a secular perspective on nature for this publication, though they used words like paradise and Eden). The point was the same, that it’s surprising how quickly we’ll take such an astonishing vista of our incredible land and seascapes for granted. I’d add that that it’s surprising how quickly we’ll take the marvelous Creator of that fabulous view for granted also. The author gives the example of a man who lived in a house with a breathtaking panoramic ocean view, yet within a few years, takes it for granted and scarcely notices the view unless a visitor brings it to their attention. After awhile, the ocean was just a big blue thing in the window that just sat there doing the same thing day after day.

Song of Solomon 2:12 “The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.

My dad retired, built and moved into a house overlooking a lake in the Pine-covered Sierra Nevada mountains of California. People come from around the world to vacation in the beauty and experience the grandeur. The views are spectacular and I use many of the photographs of this magnificent spectacle of God’s handiwork in many of my posts. The “wow factor” of the landscape produces a self-examination that overwhelms life and brings forth both gratitude and praise to the Creator, our Maker, Father God. Dad purposefully uses a focus point of majestic Goat Mountain as a reminder to stop and pray each day on his morning walk. He never wants life to cause him to overlook the scenery that God has designed, nor to let it become a screen-saver in the background of life. He understands that there is a human inclination to eventually tune out and overlook that which is common in our daily sight and he never wants to come to the point where he uses the term: “just another day in paradise”, but to remember and live by Psalm 118:24 “This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  

Psalm 147:8 “He covers the heavens with clouds, provides rain for the earth, and makes the grass grow in mountain pastures.”

The distractions of life can overwhelm the scenery, when our days are a blur because they are burdened by stresses and demands of deadlines, never-ending errands, getting and spending money, and “keeping up with the Jones” that draws our eyes off of the view and doesn’t allow us to “stop and smell the roses” along the path of life. According to the author: People , places and things seem to be doing victory laps just to vex us and make it hard to look at the exquisiteness and loveliness of the world around us because we do not measure up or are too busy with the cares of this world, so we overlook what’s in front of our eyes ... hidden in plain site. Nature doesn’t care if you’re grateful, but Nature’s God does. You and I can own whole panoramas and still miss the big picture. This side of glory, there is no such thing as “just another day in paradise”. But there is this day that the Lord has made and we need to slow down, take a good look around, take in all the gorgeousness that God’s green earth has to offer, and rejoice in it. Don’t miss a thing.

Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

In Christ, Brian