FALL TIME BEAUTY

We can experience God’s presence in many different ways. When I stop to consider that God made this whole world and everything in it, I am in awe! It seems natural, then, that we can experience His presence in everything. Can you think of times when you personally encountered God while reading Scripture, in nature, in the people you meet, and in times of worship and prayer?

One fall day, as I sat with my chair on a sandy beach, ironically at a place called Promised Land State Park in Greentown, PA, I was immersed in the beauty of creation that surrounded me. In the Old Testament Scriptures, the Promised Land was for the Israelites, the land of Canaan, which represented for them a land flowing with milk and honey.

 

 

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people (the Israelites) in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.  –Exodus 3:7-8  (NIV)

In God’s boundless compassion, He saw the oppression His chosen people, the Israelites, were experiencing at the hands of the Egyptians. He led them to Canaan, the Promised Land, which symbolized a land flowing with milk and honey. The Promised Land was a good and spacious place where they could live in freedom. The milk and honey symbolized goodness, wealth, agricultural richness, and happiness.

 

While I was at the park, I felt I had found the land flowing with milk and honey too. The many trees that surrounded the lake were vibrant with color. There were beautiful shades of orange, red, and yellow that took my breath away.

 

 

The sky was originally pretty much purely blue with no clouds, but by the time I left, there were a few puffy clouds that suddenly appeared. It made me smile to see the water looking like it was dancing with the sunlight reflecting on it, making it look sparkly.

 

 

If you are reading this, you most likely know how hearts have appeared in my path pretty much daily since December 2020. This one was waiting on the beach ready to make me smile.

 

 

Can you find the hearts here?

 

 

 

As I was alternating between sitting for a little while and stretching my legs by standing, I finally looked toward my left foot to see this perfectly shaped heart stone in the sand!

 

 

Yes, I laughed out loud at God’s reminder of His great love for me and His desire for me to love others with the same love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.  –1 John 4:9-11  (NLT)

God’s love is so great for each one of us that He sent Jesus to earth to die for our sins, granting eternal life to all who believe in Jesus. We need to share that same unconditional love with all we meet. 

 

What was most interesting about this heart is that when I took the stone out of the sand, this is what I saw.

 

 

Notice that the stone is not heart-shaped! As a friend with whom I shared the pictures said, “This rock needed the sand to look like a heart. It is just like us. We need Jesus to help us see how, at times, we have hidden our heart below all the other stuff in our lives.”

Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question: “Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.’” The man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was very rich.  –Luke 18:18-23  (NLT)

This religious leader’s heart was hidden beneath the things of this world that often get in our way. He had kept the commandments, but the one thing he had not been able to do was follow Jesus with his whole heart. His heart was focused on the material treasure, which he was not willing to part with. Jesus called this leader to follow Him and put Him first in his life. It appears he was not willing to do that.

 

 

Be encouraged this week to…

…see the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey that God provides in your life.

…be aware of the ways God is reminding you of His great love for you.

…be aware of the ways God is calling you to love others with His love.

…see how Jesus is calling you to draw your heart closer to Him above the all the things in your life.

 

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  –Psalm 51:10-11  (NIV)