Conversations about the religious and spiritual life on the other side of fundamentalism
 
Earth Day: Creator and Creation

Earth Day: Creator and Creation

 Guest Post by: Jay Griffith

IMG_1662As I was running with my dog Echo along a trail on the east bench the other morning I saw the sun ignite a patch of the Oquirrh mountains to the south of Kennecott. The snow white peaks lit like a match to paper. But the flame didn’t travel far and soon it burned out. Brief but beautiful. Life is like that. A rare rainbow arcs in a sun-wet sky for only seconds. Fortunate is the soul to see it, stop, and take it in.

But there is also beauty and wonder in the slow evolution of life. Yesterday morning I turned all my compost piles. It is wondrous, how the oxygen and shade giving green leaves of summer die in a blaze of color, then fall, and now have nearly become new, nutrient rich soil. Soil that will be the foundation of life for my garden.

On my peach, apricot, cherry, apple, and pear trees, new buds are showing. The Nan King Cherry, Current and Logan Berry bushes are also budding. That which appeared dead is alive. The tombs of the tulips and crocus have been opened and they are rising in newness of life.

Does anything truly die? Or is it just transformed into new life? God has said he is one eternal round. In the Lion King, Rafiki talks about the circle of life. The creator of heaven and earth comes and lives among his creations, dies, is resurrected, and lives again. Even Harry Potter comes back from the dead. Are these just wishful fables that are replayed in various ways in all cultures over all time?

I believe in Christ resurrected. A son of heavenly parents. A genius god. The greatest artist, architect, designer, musician, mathematician, inventor, engineer, biologist, physicist, activist, humanitarian, CEO, teacher, preacher, son, friend and brother who ever walked this earth. I believe this partly because it makes sense intellectually from what I see in nature and what science reveals. 

I believe in this Messiah because of what I’ve learned in seeking truth within and without his church. I believe in the son of God as my savior because I have experienced in quiet personal moments of solitude his divine love. I have felt this very real connection in times of joy and in times of despair. I have felt his presence in moments of distraction as well as in times of intention. I have experienced praying in the name of Jesus Christ and having my requests answered in ways that are undeniably through his power. Not by coincidence nor deception of mind. I have witnessed this great humanitarian god bless me through other kind souls—some of other species—who often have not known they have been an answer to my prayers.

Despite my doubting and disobedience—my selfishness and distrust—despite my utter irrational smallness in the grandeur of the universe I have felt God’s love and believe that this love is his greatest gift and intellectual achievement. His capacity to love so many so deeply and yet so individually is a marvelous mystery to me.

Like the tulip, sunrise, and my decaying compost, the reality of Jesus Christ is a wonder that I can’t help but stop and take notice of.

 

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