Today was a day full of blue skies and white clouds and rain showers and pale purple clouds. It would rain and then the sun would come out, then the clouds would bunch together, and it would rain again. In the afternoon the sky was covered in thin cigar smoke clouds. I could see through them as they floated fast across the sky, giving glimpses of Father Sky’s blue canvas.

I literally watched one of my cucumbers grow an inch today during the rain showers. I resisted picking the cucumber this morning and by later afternoon I celebrated the first cucumber harvest. It’s amazing how much the silver raindrops do to enhance the earth. Not only do they fill the rivers and the creeks but they turn the landscape a lush green. God’s rain is such a wonderful gift. “To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment,” Jane Austen.

As I perched in the swing and pondered, I marveled over all the colors in my yard, thankful I could see God’s artistry. I tried to imagine a life without color. But I can’t. I thought I’d make a box of crayons from the colors I see in my yard, a little box of eight crayons all named for something beauteous in my yard. The first crayon I’d place in the box would be cardinal red. Then I’d add cucumber green, wood thrush brown, and bumble bee butt black. I saw the big bees down in the yellow petunias, their fuzzy black bottoms sticking out of the blooms. I’d now straighten the crayons in the box to make room for marigold orange and sunflower yellow. Next I’d add Father sky blue and pansy purple. I’m closing my box of God’s crayons till I get a new bird coloring book. But I think I’m going to need a bigger box so I can have space for cigar smoke gray, all the colors of the songbirds’ plumage, and my sunset’s shades.

Bible scripture uses colors to symbolize God’s glory and our sins. We’re familiar with white symbolizing holiness and purity and red symbolizing sin. After a little research I found some of the colors in a Bible box of crayons — red, white, purple, blue, green, gold, bronze, silver, and rainbow. There are certainly many more. Louie Schwarzberg says, “Nature’s beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude.” I notice all the colors and I’m appreciative of them and thank God for them. Never really noticed how glorious our natural world is till I retired and started walking a dog daily. Zora Neal Hurston said, “Some people could look at a mud puddle and see an ocean with ships.” I am one of those “people.” I’m blessed with a child like faith and a sense of wonder about the world. I truly believe as Dante Alighieri, “nature is the art of God.”

Jenn Soehnlin writes “Nature is a concrete way to grasp the abstract qualities of God. Every person is drawn to various aspects of nature because it is how we grasp the power and love and character of God.” We stand on the beach watching and listening to the pounding of the ocean waves and we feel the power and might of God and we hear the earth’s heartbeat. Watching the lightning out my window last week during a thunderstorm I was aware of God’s majesty and glory in the beauty of the night sky. When I was young I always wondered if thunder was God talking. Scripture in Psalm 29 speaks of God’s “mighty voice” as likened to thunder, lightning, and wind and encourages us to trust in God’s strength and peace even when the storms of life are raging around us.

God knows we struggle. He is present during our storms and guides us through the darkness offering strength and comfort. He will never abandons us.

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” John Muir