North Star News 5/3/2012

As we begin the merry month of May, let us take a moment to give thanks to God for the beautiful world in which we live. May is a wonderful month beginning with the charming custom of giving May baskets and ending with the serious business of decorating the nation’s cemeteries. The grass is greening up here in the northland. Spring flowers such as daffodils and tulips are springing up and bursting with color. By the end of the month, the lilacs will be filling the air with wonderful fragrances. Robins are building their nests, and ducks are swimming in the wetlands again. The whole earth is awakening to the bright sunshine and warm winds coming this summer. The bursting forth of new life in May is an echo of the new life in the first days of creation. In the beautiful poetry of Genesis 1:11 it says, “And God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind upon the earth.’ And it was so….And God saw that it was good.” As people listen to the chirping of the birds, look at the bright flowers of spring, and smell the fragrances of the season, they experience a little bit of what God experienced in the beginning. According to the creation story in Genesis 2 God created a garden of delights for everyone to enjoy. “Eden” in the Hebrew language means “delight.” God did take delight in all that he made. If the first reaction of people to the wonders of creation is delight in the wonderful things God has made, the thoughtful response of people is to praise the mastermind of all these good things. Psalm 95:3-7 says, “For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it; for his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.” There are a few people who have traveled to outer space and looked back on the earth to see it as a shining blue jewel in the bareness of space. Recently a few explorers, including movie director James Cameron, went to the depths of the sea when they visited the Marianna Trench in the Pacific Ocean. In an interview on National Public Radio Cameron spoke about how awesome it was to see strange and delight forms of life in the depths of the sea. Ordinary people have simply visited the colorful choral reefs in the ocean or the immense Grand Canyon in the desert. These places are awesome and lead some to stand in awe not only of the creation but of the creator. But right here in northwestern Minnesota there are wonderful delights all around. And right here in northwestern Minnesota God is at work in his creation, bringing life and joy. There is an old adage that encourages people to “stop and smell the roses.” In addition, say a little word of thanks to the creator who has created a word filled with so many good things. Psalm 118 24 says, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”