Hello, dear reader!
I'm here with a beautiful guest post by a fellow author, blogger, and disciple of Jesus, Savannah Jane McCrary! (yay!)
Savannah is a lover of history especially as it points to the truth of the Gospel, and this post was a huge blessing to me. Get ready for some powerful stories of heroes of the faith and a personal challenge to stare darkness in the eyes and find Jesus' beauty in it.
Welcome, Savannah!
In the beginning, God created…
And it was good. It was beautiful.
As God looked over the stars and sun and moon and trees and flowers and animals and seas He had made, again and again, “He saw that it was good.”
Then sin came, and everything changed. There were thorns and pain and sickness and death.
Yes, the world is broken and dying. But still there is beauty amid the decay.
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Creation groans, waiting for the day when Jesus returns and makes all things new. Yet still there are glimpses of beauty. Jesus is still King of Creation. And there is still so much beauty to be found when we look for it.
God paints the sky every morning. And every evening, He does it again. And there are the clouds–puffy white ones, gray, wispy ones…
God could have created plants only to be useful–to be used for food and medicine and building and production. But instead, He made plants that are not just useful, but beautiful. And such variety! He made towering pine and oak trees, plants with leaves of all shapes and sizes, flowers in every color imaginable.
God is still delighting in the beauty He has made. If He delights in it, shouldn’t we delight in it, too?
For the past few years, I’ve been researching the World War II Dutch Resistance for a historical fiction book I am writing, and I have been struck by how these brave men and women found and appreciated beauty in even the darkest of places.
Hans Poley was a university student when the Germans conquered the Netherlands. They demanded all students sign an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party or be deported to forced labor in Germany. Hans refused, went into hiding, and joined the Resistance. Eventually, he was caught and imprisoned in a concentration camp. Yet, he tells this story of his time in the camp:
“In sharp contrast to the scenes of misery, I remember one clear spring morning as we stood motionless for roll call. We heard no sound except for the movement of the SS guards, counting under their breath. Then, suddenly, a caroling lark took off from the surrounding woods into the sky, and its unrestrained cheer swept over the two thousand prisoners in the square. No one dared to look for it, let alone follow it on its freedom ride. But we all heard it and took it as a symbol of liberation and light.”
Johanna Ader-Appels didn’t end up imprisoned in a concentration camp herself, but she and her husband risked their lives to shelter Jews in their home. At any moment, there was the risk the Germans would come and search the house and find the Jews, and they would all be hauled off to prison and death. Yet in the midst of all that, she wrote,
“It was so wonderful to enjoy the spring, the sun, the birds, and the flowers, which knew nothing of war and were just as exuberant as each new spring arrived… one must take the time to enjoy such loveliness, even amidst a busy life… ja, especially then, otherwise there is the risk of our feeling jaded and dull. And those who receive nothing from such gifts will soon have nothing more to give.”
Diet Eman was a young woman living in the Netherlands during World War II. When the Germans took over, and began persecuting the Jews, she and her fiance, Hein, risked their lives to rescue Jews. Like Hans Poley, Diet was also eventually caught and imprisoned in a concentration camp. She tells this story:
“Outside the four corners of the building stood four soldiers with rifles. The windows were all open, and outside the windows the clouds looked so beautiful that I would stand there for a moment just to admire them. They were just clouds, but they were God’s consolation to me, so beautiful in the sky. Below the clouds, the countryside was full of flowers, lots of purple shooting up to the sun. I would stand there at times and remember how beautiful God created this world, and then I would be reassured that he would certainly take care of me and all my loved ones.”
The beauty of creation is God’s gift to us. It reminds us He cares for us. If He created and provides for the birds and the flowers, He’ll care for us, too. In the words of Jesus,
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Matthew 6:26-30
Because, after all, we are the crown of His creation. After He created everything else and called it “good,” then He created man and woman. And He called them “very good,” (Genesis 1:31).
He delights in His beautiful creation, but He delights even more in His children living out their faith in Him, trusting in the care of their Heavenly Father.
“The colored sunsets and starry heavens, the beautiful mountains and the shining seas, the fragrant woods and painted flowers, are not half so beautiful as a soul that is serving Jesus out of love, in the wear and tear of common, unpoetic life.”
Streams in the Desert
We don’t worship the creation. We don’t value trees above children or plants above people. But we do thank God for the good gifts He gives us. We admire, enjoy, and delight in the glories of creation because in them we see God’s glory.
“We see the glory of God when we delight in, reflect upon, and enjoy the world He has created.”
Thomas Shreiner
Look up in the sky at night and gaze at the stars. I once read that scientists estimate there are 100 billion stars in every galaxy. And how many galaxies are there? We don’t know. Some scientists estimate two trillion. It’s possibly far more.
And yet,
He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
Psalm 147:4
But what’s even more amazing is that the God who counts the stars also knows the number of hairs on your head.
The very hairs of your head are all numbered…
Luke 12:7
That’s how intimately He knows and cares for you.
If those members of the Dutch Resistance could find beauty even in wartime and in concentration camps, surely we can find beauty in our daily lives, too.
So, go, admire the beauty of sunrises and sunsets, fields and flowers, clouds, oceans, the song of a bird, the stars in the sky, a tiny butterfly, a massive, rugged mountain peak…and let it stir your heart to worship.
Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name;
Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Psalm 29:2
~♥~
about the author
The third born in an amazing family of seven children, she was homeschooled all the way through and lives with her family in beautiful western Montana. Savannah loves spending time with her family and their Bernese Mountain Dogs, working on the family homestead, getting together with old friends and meeting new ones, going on adventures, worshiping, enjoying God’s creation, reading good books, and cups of tea. In addition to her authorly pursuits and drawing and painting, Savannah’s many other interests include cooking and baking, midwifery, graphic design, sewing, and making pottery.
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Footnotes:
All Scripture taken from the New King James Version® Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Hans Poley’s story taken from Return to the Hiding Place Copyright © 1993 by Hans Poley, LifeJourney Books™, page 172
Johanna Ader-Appels’ story taken from House of Defiance Copyright 1947 © by J. Ader-Appels, English Translation Copyright © Andrew Healey, page 232
Diet Eman’s story taken from Things We Couldn’t Say by Diet Eman with James Schapp, Copyright © 1994 by Wm. B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co., page 230
Thomas Shreiner quote taken from The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), page 4 as quoted in Crown Him King: A Study on the Kingdom of God for Well-Watered Women written by Gretchen Saffles with Maggie Combs and Lauren Weir, Copyright © 2022, Life Lived Beautifully, LLC.
