Friday, 19 June 2009

• Once Upon A Time

  Once upon a time, there was a nice woman who loved to bake cookies. She knew how to bake crunchy butter cookies, delicate peanut butter cookies, and big, soft chocolate chip cookies that had a hint of cinnamon in them.

  When she had a lovely pile of cookies, she would then throw them out.

  The End.

  ***

  When I do my devotions in the morning, I start by giving praise to God. Sometimes it's hard to get started in my general haze before the caffeine kicks in, but one way of kick-starting it is to simply think about my senses. God created color, shape and form-- and I can see and enjoy it. He created the scent of the heavy, humid air of summer rain in the woods, and I can smell it. My skin is capable of receiving the sensation of the slightest breeze on my skin. And don't get me started on coffee and chocolate, which my tongue rejoice in. Though my hearing isn't so great, I can still hear the wrens chattering outside, and I can turn my Mozart up to let my heart swell with the Requiem.

  God made us, the Creed says, to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. It's amazing to me that for every good thing in this world, there is a nerve designed to enjoy it. Yet would it not be odd if we gobbled the above woman's cookies and never looked with gratitude at the hand that made them? In fact, I am not so sure that enjoyment doesn't automatically include gratitude. It takes real effort to enjoy something without giving thanks for the ability to enjoy it, and to the One who gave us this ability. You have to be pretty hard and deliberate about not giving thanks. It almost hurts to do so, as if enjoyment without gratitude ends by making less of our humanity. Enjoyment without gratitude to God demeans us as human beings.

  There is a gift, and there is a recipient. That seems to be the way all things in the Universe work. There is knowledge, and there is understanding-- the one leading to the other generates joy in gratitude. There is a tongue for the honey. There is an eye for the revelations of the microscope and telescope. It is almost as if we have been intentionally surrounded by blessings that point us to a Creator, and just the very the means to apprehend it.

  The cookies were not created to be thrown out!

   ¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
         the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

   ² Day after day they pour forth speech;
         night after night they display knowledge.

   ³ There is no speech or language
         where their voice is not heard. ^{Psalm 18}

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