For the Love of Nature

I’ve never been what you’d call a wilderness explorer or nature lover.  Yeah I’ve always loved looking at oceans, lakes, and rivers since I grew up in Maine.  But that’s about it. 

The Saco River near North Conway, NH, insanely beautiful and insanely cold!

 

But recently that’s all changed.  Lately I cannot seem to get enough of the outdoors.  I want to go for hikes, sit by water, and lay in brightly colored leaves that have fallen. 

Adorable yard in Freeport Maine.  I mean who doesn’t want to sit there with a book and a cup of coffee!?!?

 

And it hit me the other day as I was watching the cheesiest Christmas romance movie you can find (don’t judge) that it’s because I know God is wooing me through all this. 

It’s been a rough couple of months to be honest.   Things I knew and trusted disappeared.  Thoughts of love and joy were replaced with loneliness and bitterness.  But through it all I knew that God was there.  He loved me and was comforting me.  I was expecting Him to ease my pain during the tough days.  And because I was living with this expectation I saw His gifts and declarations of love everywhere I went.

I heard Him say He created me with a beauty that shines brighter than the changing leaves I saw shining through the rain near Sebago Lake. 

I heard Him say that His love for me is so much bigger than the sky that seemed to go on forever as I looked across the marsh in Old Orchard Beach.

I heard Him say I will never understand the height or depth or width of His love for me and that I should just enjoy it and rest in it as I stopped for a minute on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere Maine.

 

And the other crazy part?  In all of these places there was such a light beautiful breeze.  Not a heavy wind or awful lack of.  Just the perfect breeze.  I could literally feel the whisphers of God in those moments.

And as I heard these things I wanted more of it.  I wanted to see more of His beauty and His creation.  I wanted to be wooed more.

 

And it got me thinking about how much I’ve lost the expectation of God moving in other ways.  And wondering how amazed I would be if I could expand my expectation to all areas of my life. 

 

What would I see if I daily expected God to do miraculous things? 

 

What would I hear if I expected God to speak to me every time I read Scripture, sat in His presence, worshiped? 

 

What would I experience if I expected God to direct my daily steps. 

 

I want it.  I want it all.  As God has been overwhelming me with His love, I want to be overwhelmed by it all.