He Restores My Soul - Creation

“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy.”
 - Psalm 96:11-12

 


Sitting on a bench in my garden one evening, feeling rather gloomy, I noticed some random red patches in the sky! They were very unusual and so incredibly beautiful. My gaze was transfixed. I could not take my eyes off the beautiful scene that was unfolding before my very eyes. It was as if God had decided to put on a show for me to cheer me up and what a show it was!

As I gazed up, I saw all sorts of different coloured clouds were being swept away with the strong wind, really high up in the night sky! I had never noticed coloured clouds in the night sky before. As you can see in the photo below (click for full size image), you could barely make out the clouds but I can assure you they were unusual and a deep red colour.

There it was, crystal clear, the big, bright moon, looking down at me on my bench by the pond in my garden in the middle of the night. And to think that I could have missed it all and gone to sleep still feeling as sad as I did that night. All it took was a moment of rest in His presence, a moment to enjoy His creation. I sat for ages as I watched the clouds sweep by and the moon lift higher and higher into the night sky. Every single night God puts on a show for us, every morning He rises the sun for us. Every day there is something beautiful and awesome just waiting for us to see.

Without warning, my breath was taken away by the next scene that was presented to me. Glowing brightly, the moon made its grand entrance into the night sky, from behind the clouds that I had been watching intently! It was so BEAUTIFUL.

Evening turned into late night but I could not stop staring at the moon, it was so unbelievably beautiful. I started out earlier that evening, sitting in my dark room, feeling sorry for myself and ended the evening with my soul restored - totally and utterly in awe of God's creation. All I did was look at the moon and yet the power within that simple observation was astounding! Finally, when I could stay awake no more, I walked away from one of the most beautiful scenes I had witnessed in a long time and drifted off to sleep peacefully, feeling safe, rested and very close to my Creator.

My experience that evening with the moon was not the first time I had experienced the restoration of my soul through creation. I remember when my grandfather died. At the time, I was living in South Africa and he in England. Grieving was not easy, there was no funeral to attend, no crying family to cry with and nothing that marked his death in any way. I was alone, so I went down to the beach, to a place where the waves crashed violently against the rocks causing a beautiful cascade of water. As I sat watching this scene and feeling the power of it, I cried. I must have sat for an hour or more and just cried my eyes out whilst watching the waves crashing against the rocks. I did that for three days as I remembered my granddad and thought of all the good times we had together. I cried deeply and for some reason the powerful crashing of the waves allowed me to cry intensely. After three days of crying at the rocks, I felt better. It was as if I had cried all that I had to cry out of my system and my soul was restored. I will never forget the peace that I felt after those few days by the rocks, it was quite surreal. 

On many other occasions, I have had my soul restored as I have walked in the woods, or stumbled across some deer in the field or simply sat at our pond in our garden and watched the birds bathe and the squirrels scurry by. There is something to be said about taking a moment to allow creation to minister to you. You do not need to be an outdoors person or a naturalist to have an experience with creation. No matter who you are and what your preferences, I am quite certain that as you absorb the wonderful world that God has created for you to live in, your soul will be restored. Something must grab your attention, perhaps the enormity of the Grand Canyon or the intricacies of the wings of a butterfly.

My favourite place - our garden pond

Daniel and Amy by our pond

A bug's view of our pond

This is a chapter snippet from He Restores My Soul.  Find out more about how The Sounds of Nature can restore your soul and improve your health.  Also find out The Touch of Nature and The Hygiene Hypothesis in He Restores My Soul.