June 27, 2019

To our God and Father be glory forever - Phil. 4:20

In retirement, one of my favorite things to do is spend an hour at our neighborhood pool with a good book (I'm in the Amalia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters!).  I recently was in awe of the beauty all around me...I mean, there was nothing really beautiful around me that God didn't make!   That is amazing discovery for me...one who loves beautiful things.  But stuff just fades away...God's earth goes on and on.

Folliot Sandford Pierpoint wrote "For the Beauty of the Earth":

For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies.
For the love which from our birth, over and around us lies.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise.  This our hymn of grateful praise.

Have you ever thought about how we teach our children to say "thank you" for things they are given...but do we teach them to say "grateful praise" to the Creator of the most beautiful things ever created.  We receive blessings over and over throughout our day, and I just simply do not say thanks enough.

A commentator for this hymn said: "God wants to make us people who exhibit a thankfulness in proper proportion to the gifts and blessings we've received".  Hmmm, I think I have some work to do.
May we glorify our God every day of our lives for the beauty and blessings He has bestowed upon us.

For further study:  Ps. 19:1,  Ps. 72:19, Proverbs 16:4, Ecc. 3:11, Isaiah 43:7, John 17:24, Romans 1:21-24, 1 Cor. 10:31, Col. 1:27, Hebrews 1:3.

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,
Holly