Sunday Afternoon Tea - Seeing the Creator at work in spring

The only artist who is perfect in all forms of creativity - in technique, in originality, in knowledge of the past and future, in versatility, in having perfect content to express as well as perfect expression of content, in having perfect truth to express as well as perfect expression of truth, in communicating perfectly the wonders of all that exist as well as something about Himself, is of course God - the God who is Personal."

Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking

We have had a cool spring so when warmth and sunshine arrived recently, it was as if every flowering bush and tree and the grass and the perennial flowers - all appeared to pop into color overnight... they could hardly wait to appear and finally they could... bloom! 

I noticed it first when driving to an appointment, on the street in town where I can easily turn on the bridge leading across the river.  It was just enough warmer in town that the blooms were ahead of ours in the country so they took me surprise.  Color!  Beauty!

This particular street has houses along it where gardeners reside.  One recognizes this in the abundance of first daffodils and then tulips in their yards.   Soon after this, the colors and scents of spring appeared in the country.  Well, just about the time the daffodils which I had left in their natural habitat (and not cut to enjoy inside) began to wilt.

As of today, the dogwood in the back yard... the one where our beloved Sasha and Storm kitties are buried beside... it is almost in full bloom.  When that occurs, it honestly looks like the tree has a light source within it that causes the flowering branches to become iridescent, especially in early morning and twilight.

It is when spring colors take the place of winter's black, whites, and grays that I wonder how someone could not believe there is a God... a Creator... an infinite Artist.  He loves us so much that he sandwiches the stark neutrals of winter in between glorious autumn brilliance and gentle shades of spring.

It is almost as if we couldn't handle the colors of autumn just after the starkness of winter.  So instead, the Master Artist thought about it and made spring to slowly begin with the gentle colors of the daffodils until the brilliant deep pink almost red blossoms of the crab apple tree arrive... about the same time as the vibrant reds and yellows and purples of the tulips.

We have one azalea bush that has survived through the years, most likely due to its' protected home near the corner of the deck. The "bad" winter of last year and the extreme cold of this past winter did away with this bushes friends.

The blooms are an unusual lavender color and every single year in the nine we have lived here, they always take us by surprise when we can see them from our kitchen window... in  glorious bloom overnight.

God the Artist is at work!  The same God who created us in His image. That is why we respond to the Beauty around us, why we need it in our homes and our yards and our fields and our forests and our seashores and everywhere we look.

When we view His Beauty... we recognize His love and His Wisdom and that He exists.  The fact that spring has always followed winter and that summer follows spring and then the coolness and colors of autumn appear each year (in the parts of the world that have four distinct seasons, of course)... for thousands upon thousands of years... should speak of His Presence.

When I looked out the window last night and saw the fullness of the moon, I knew He was in charge.  No chaos in this nighttime sky.  The sun came back this morning.  Or rather... the Earth is making another rotation amongst another spin of the sun.  With such mathematical precision that NASA could send men to the moon and satellites far away from the bounds of Earth's gravity to arrive precisely on time. 

The mathematics of the Universe certainly speak of Someone who created it all.

The Heavens declare the glory of God!  As do the tulips and the crab apple trees and the dogwood trees and the daffodils and the slow greening of the forest when I walk past it each day. 

That morning when I was driving to my appointment, I thought of the 38th chapter of Job, one of my favorites in all Scripture... and I knew He truly was present and the Creator and the source of all Beauty.

Before we can hardly blink, we will find May over and the heat of summer becoming more intense.  He will show up in our gardens and the colors, aromas, and tastes of summer.  And I will thank Him.