
As creation has received, so also it gives.
In trust, it waits for God to provide what it needs, and then as creatively as it can, it turns and shares what it has received.
Out of its bounty, creation offers up nourishing food to beast and humankind, alike. From the mysterious world of flora and funga it furnishes remedies. Under the heat of the sun, it proffers stiff ocean winds to set the adventurous sailor’s heart soaring. And at dark, it puts on nightly astonomical shows for those who choose to look up. Whether for sustaining, for healing, or for sheer joy, creation gives good gifts through the generosity and love of its Creator, our Father, the God-Who-Provides.
In these quiet, dark days of Advent, in the reality of waiting in the not-yetness of Jesus’ return, we experience God’s goodness falling down upon us, all around us. While we wait for that one most important thing—Jesus’ return—creation is meanwhile delivering God’s manifold good gifts into our hands. We only need slow down, look around, and take notice.
Creation is in a constant state of harvest, cascading layers of sustenance and blessing upon us, all because God—in his great hospitality and magnaminity—would have it do so.
He who laid the foundations of the earth, shut in the sea with doors, caused the dawn to know its place, and binds the chains of Pleides (Job 38) invites you to take pleasure in and receive from what He has made for you.
And as you have received, so also shall you give.
As you wait this Advent, allow the beauty of creation to remind you that God-the-Provider is already with you. How is creation demonstrating God’s generous gift-giving nature to you? How might you give creatively to others out of what you are receiving?
“For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.
For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light,
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise
this, our hymn of grateful praise.”
—Folliott Sandford Pierpont, 1863
Photo: Buzzards Bay, MA, 2024