July 2nd

July 2nd

Read: Psa. 37:4; Mt. 7:7-11; John 15:7; Matt. 6.33; Rom. 8:28

Little things … do we fully appreciate that they are from God just as the big ones are? We in New York State celebrate the glorious colors of Autumn, and rightly so. We don’t, however, celebrate the fallen leaves, layered thickly under winter snow, decaying and making a dining-room and dwelling place for earthworms, which in turn aerate the soil or make bait for the fisherman. We are apt to appreciate beauty more than practicality, but God created both for our good and His glory. When I was a child I did not appreciate onions, but now I enjoy them to the point of celebration! My understanding and taste for onions changed. If I can change about onions, why not about other simple provisions from God’s hands and man’s innovations?

CELEBRATION OF CREATION
Things that we should celebrate
We often don’t appreciate,
The simple tokens of Your care
Which all Your children use and share:

Cows and their milk,
Worms that spin silk,
A potato to bake,
Fish in a lake,
Earthworms for bait,
Chalk and dark slate,
Onions and rice,
Deadwood and ice,
Pencils with lead,
Colors like red,
Cotton’s white bolls,
Embers and coals,
Pulpwood for paper,
Wax for the taper.

We use the things which You create;
We modify and innovate,
Adapting things which You prepare,
With hands that work and minds that dare.

Prayer: Dear God, help me to see Your work in all things from Your hands. Show me how to appreciate even things like flies or spiders, which also have a purpose in Your creation.