If you are a frequent listener, you have picked up on the fact that many of these podcast episodes are inspired by the actions of my two young children. That is not necessarily intentional, I’m not storing up embarrassing or sweet stories to one day share at their graduation party or wedding. Rather, if you have children, you will understand me when I say that some of the most important lessons we can learn are from our children. They are innocent, free from the anxieties we are filled with, and generally full of joy & peace. It is no wonder that Jesus tells us that if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must become like them. Well, today’s episode comes from a story about my daughter when yesterday Kylie took the kids to the park while I worked from home. They returned back around dinner time, and Kylie started working on dinner while I packed up my things. As I was doing so, Ava was telling me all about the park (she is almost three, mind you). She was telling me about the swings, and her new friends (kids at the park she played with), and how she saw all the animals (she was talking about the ducks & geese). At this point Kylie stopped and said, “I forgot to tell you the sweetest thing that she said. We all went down by the water and were sitting on the bench swing just watching the ducks & geese together. Without prompting, Ava looks up and said to me, ‘Mommy, God really loves me’.” Kylie went on to explain that frequently when they wake up and see the new day, the sunshine, and the birds that her and the kids go to the window together and say, “Thank you God for a beautiful day. God sure does love us.” Obviously, my daughter has been listening & learning. She sat there with her mommy & brother, watching the water & the ducks in the park on a beautiful day, and couldn’t help but feel the love of God in that moment surrounded by these blessings. “Out of the mouth of babes” are some of the greatest lessons ever learned. This morning as I drove to work and thought about these things, I started to notice so many of the things around me I would normally take for granted. The sun was shining bright and warm through the windshield, the trees were a vibrant green color on each side of the road, and I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Wow, God sure does love us.” 

I want you to consider for a moment how many different ways God could have made this world if he so desired. Imagine for a moment if God had created the world completely void of all colors. That the world was just a dull, bland collection of greys and blacks – every day was like a rerun of the Andy Griffith show.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Andy Griffith show, and a little part of me would love to live in Mayberry, but I would never want to live in a world without color. Yet as it is, God created a beautiful world for us to live in full of every color imaginable for us to enjoy. Or perhaps imagine for a moment if God had created a world without a variety of food, drink, or taste. That every meal that ever sustained us was the same bland taste morning, noon, and night. Maybe that thought takes you back to your college days surviving on Top Ramen for months on end. Yet as it is, God has created a world full of variety, with succulent food both from animal and plant for us to enjoy. Have you ever stopped to wonder why did God make the world the way that he did? Likely, it’s something that we have just taken for granted in our lives and not given much thought to. But I want you to consider the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:10-13, “I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.” God has made everything beautiful in it’s time, and Solomon instructs us to understand that such things are a gift from God for us to enjoy. God has created a world for us not only to live, but one that is full of blessings to be enjoyed. While we certainly do not love the world in the sense of sinful things, I love the world in the sense of the beauty & grace with which God has made it. Solomon would later go on the write, “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18) God has given us all things to enjoy, and he has done so because he loves us. Please do not misunderstand me – the goal & aim of our lives is not just to do whatever makes us happy, especially if what makes us happy is sinful and contrary to the will of God. But what I do want us to see is that even the smallest things of this life that we often take for granted are a testament to God’s love for us. He did not have to create the world that he did for us to enjoy, but he did. So, while you’re out and about today, just stop and look around. Consider the things that you encounter all the time and overlook. The sounds you hear, the colors you see, the food you taste, the warmth you feel, the sweet aromas you smell – all of them stand as witnesses to this most important truth: that God loves you. So thank you God for another beautiful day, and thank you for how you show us your love even through the things that you have created.