Seeing God in Nature

"…for since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities---his eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made"...
(Romans 1:19-20)

As I began to explore the idea of helping kids understand and know God better in order to enable their worship to go deeper, I feel like the Lord just blew my mind wide open about the importance of looking at nature with more than a casual glance. Why? because God knew that we would never understand all of who He is so He created a world full of amazing things to show us. Why would God do this? Because of His incredible love. Now that's romance. He didn't just send us a bouquet of roses to show us He cared-- He sent an entire universe! His love is extravagant. I feel so ashamed of how many days go by when I ignore the "roses" He sent, or casually glance at them and say "those are nice". Or worse, get lost in the "roses" describing their delicate beauty, and enjoying their fragrance without offering so much as a thank You for the handmade, delivered-in-Person, gift. Our God is so amazing. He deserves so much more than we give, and even if we gave more it wouldn't be enough. But even in that, He offers compassion, waiting, pursuing and wooing instead of retreating like a rejected suitor. In light of all this, don't you just feel like running to Him, falling at His feet and worshipping Him? If you do, don't just think on it, DO IT. You only have an audience of One.

During the weeks prior to preparing for the presentation, I had the God Gazer team do an assignment in which they were to look at nature and see if they could discover something about the character of God. They were then asked to express their hearts in a worship poem using the phrase “God You’re Like”, or “God is like”. Below are a few examples of their worship poems.

God is like a lovely morning made perfect and serene. Every single detail made beautiful, just as if it had been planned before time began. Kaylan Fodor (5th grade, God Gazers)

God You’re like a Bougainvillea. You are still and calm. When something comes along that is bad you scratch it with your thorns, and it goes away. God You’re like the color of the Bougainvillea. Magenta. You are bright and you draw people near to You. You’re always there for me. God I love You! By Gabrielle Courtney (5th grade, God Gazers)

God is like an eagle, soaring in the sky.
God is like an eagle, He spends His time up high.
He lives above in heaven, where His angels form a throng.
Together as a chorus they sing their happy songs.

God sees the things we do each day, He knows it when we fall.
While eagles fly up in the sky, watching animals and all.
They both are watching from above, they see the things we do.
But only God does this in love, the love of me and You.
By Alex Kate Halvey (5th grade, God Gazers)