I have often thought that children, with their curiosity and sense of wonder, can teach us so much if we allow them to. Even the least jaded adults would be hard-pressed to match the amazement that fills the eyes of a child experiencing something for the first time. To revel in drops of water falling from the sky, to be overjoyed at the perfectly sweet taste of a cherry, to see a waterfall as if for the very first time. To see as children do would be to allow the natural world to stop us in our tracks.
We listened to a Tim Keller sermon last night called The Song of Creation and he talked about the poetry of Genesis I. In this passage it says over and over, "And God saw that it was good," meaning that God was taking pleasure in His creation. He was enjoying it and smiling upon it and proclaiming its fundamental goodness. Later in the sermon, Keller so beautifully connects this to the sounds we hear in nature. The babbling brook and the birdsong in the forest and the whistle of trees in the wind--the music we find in nature is a reflection of its beauty and rightness and its createdness. I am good, our Maker loves us. It's also why many of us feel closest to God when we are in nature. It's why a stream of light coming in the window, the warmth of the morning sun on our face, can sometimes feel profound and bring us a moment of unexpected joy and peace.
A young child's appreciation for God's natural world is spiritual, really. It's how we should all try to live, in awe of the place we call home and the sun that keeps us warm and the rain that makes our food grow and the view from the top of the mountain that leaves us breathless. Because it is so good. Let's enjoy it and marvel at it, just as young children do, just as our Creator does.
