Slow (Week 4): Stop! And…
In the beginning, God created.......
Gratitude slows us down to the speed of real life because it requires us to examine what God actually does for us. When we learn to return more than one time out of ten.... -John Driver (week 3 of this series)
Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy.
Hello lamppost, what'cha knowing
I've come to watch your flowers growin’
- Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel
What God has created, speaks to us!
[Psalm 19:1-4... ESV] 1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
[Romans 1:20 ESV] 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
"The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God." - John of Damascus
GOD SPEAKS TO US IN VARIOUS WAYS:
Through the word of God (scripture)
Through Community and those who are around us in the faith
Through Worship
Though the Holy Spirt - Spirit to Spirt
Through what He has created
"God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars." - Martin Luther
STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES!
Our sinful nature becomes the eclipse of the beauty of God's creation all around us for we move at such a fast pace to navigate the sinful world and societal expectations, that we miss Him speaking to us through the things of His creation.
“God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon, and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls." - Mother Teresa
