Finding God in the Natural World

Where do you find God? Years ago, I met an engineer who worked for NASA and he proudly shared how he had stumped a couple of Mormons when he told them that he had been out into the depths of space and didn’t see God or the heavens.  “Where is he?” He asked them.  I had just found God myself and had been reading one of my favorites from CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory, in it Lewis states that people miss God simply because they are looking for Him with the wrong set of eyes.  Thus, if you can’t see Him in your daily encounters, chances are that you will also miss Him in the grandeur.  When I was an agnostic I lived in such a rush working two jobs, while I went to university, and heavily partying that I thought God just didn’t frequent the places where I lived at.  Nature was a natural process that didn’t require my admiration, it simply existed as much of an accident as I.  It served me and I being its master wouldn’t lower myself to smell the flowers because the flowers would always be there.  This sense of entitlement is what blocks our vision from seeing and encountering God.

During my agnostic phase I had a Christian friend who would get so inspired simply by admiring the sky.  When I was with her she would point out the beauty that I missed every day because I was in such a hurry to get from one place to the other.  I used to admire her marvel towards creation and I promised myself that after I had conquered the world I would make time to enjoy a sunset…  As an Agnostic I visited the Amazon Jungle, spent two weeks in seclusion and I remembered being so drawn by my surroundings that I secretly told myself that if heaven existed it would look just like traveling down the Amazon River by day or night.  However, without God - admiring the natural splendor is incomplete, taking all of the magic in is like reading a poem without an author to thank.  The more I encountered beauty the more I felt this great desire to say, “thank you.”  Beauty draws us to God!

I grew up in a country town, with animals and the most beautiful forests; but, when I moved to the big city life of California I forgot about nature in trying to fit in with my new surroundings.  I pushed it so hard out of my consciousness that it wasn’t until I found God that He resuscitated my love for creation.  Today, I love spending time in front of the tabernacle just as much as I love spending time admiring His gifts of creation.  He returned my eyesight and today I marvel at the variety of species He gave us.  I was looking at the diversity of cacti the other day, when I visited a green house, some are large some are small, some are prickly some are soft…  This variation is captured throughout creation, how can anyone believe that an accidental burst could create such richness in beauty?  The more I spend time in nature the more I know God is real and the more I realize that if you can’t see Him in your daily lives chances are you won’t anywhere else, because CS Lewis is right God gives us special vision one driven by truth in beauty.