BEYOND RELIGION-BACK TO NATURE

When all is said and done, it’s all said and done.  “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”  God masterfully created everything necessary, capable of growth and reproduction as well as maintenance systems to keep them going.  Nothing more was needed except the care and attention he asked from the human beings He also created.  Simple obedience to the ways that already were placed into being was all that was required; no redoing, no revision; simply listening and obeying God, the Creator of it all.  That one simple thing was the one thing human beings chose not to do and continue to choose not to do.

The first humans were created their authentic selves, given their purpose in life, and placed into a perfect environment in which to grow into who they were created and meant to be.  But for some reason they wanted more and jumped at the first chance to be something more.  They destroyed the simplicity of being and were forever forced into the task of doing.

The Word of God became flesh and dwelled among us.  There are many reasons that human beings have attached to that act of God.  Those reasons become fodder for scholarly discussions, doctrinal debates, and divided loyalties.  At one time I enjoyed these mental gymnastics; I don’t find them enjoyable anymore because they remove my mind, heart and soul from being filled with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the community of the Trinity that I love being in the company of.  I enjoy the conversation I find in that place.

I believe that God speaks to me through nature and through the Scriptures, all of which are God breathed and inspired by Him as a way to commune and communicate who I am to Be and how I am to Be in His world.  I believe that Jesus lived the lessons that he wants me to learn so that I can be who I was created to be and do what I was created to do from the beginning of time.  So paying attention, observing, and obeying his life, his words, and his works have become the Way, Truth, and Life to me.  It is not a duty or discipline; it is a delight.

I love to just sit and watch nature.  It is all so faithful and true to its design.  There is an exact flow and pattern to it.  It simply IS.  Silent, still, not striving or stressing to be or do anything else than what it was created to be or do.  Left void of human interaction, it exists in a state of perfection.  It simply obeys the laws and principles that God spoke them into being with.  That to me is its lesson for me; that and the pleasure of its presence.

As I observe the life and listen to the words of Jesus I see the same thing.  I see the example of a human being living faithful and true to its design.  There is an exact flow and pattern to his life.  He simply is who he is; I AM.  He is silent and still, not striving and stressing to be who others thought he should be; not striving and stressing to be anyone else other than what he was sent to do.  His life on earth reveals to me that to simply obey the laws and principles of God, the Creator and Father of all He created is the only sensible and reasonable way to live; it is the only way to truly experience the pleasure of His Presence.  That to me is not a duty or a discipline; it is a delight, my delight.