The earths the Lord’s and all that it in it
You made the moon to mark the seasons;
The sun knows its time for setting. Psalm 104:19
Read Genesis 8:15—22
Looking at this picture I am witness to a two-way movement. Noah selects from the clean animals. The chosen ones do not live out their days. In their prime, the choicest the world has, they find a hand laid on their heads, and their lives surrendered to God. They are the part that represents the whole. The whole earth is offered to the Lord. It is the temple of God, the theatre of his glory. From above comes the other movement. I receive this as I am humble, as a creature, repentant for the trouble I have caused to the creation. It is the blessing of God that I can know even in the rhythms of life, the days and seasons and harvests. I remember it every time I say grace.
God of the seasons, when I rise in the morning and rest in the night, you bless me. When I take my food, my breakfast, my lunch, my dinner; when I pattern my week for work and leisure, or my year for seasons of business and holiday, I walk within your blessing. When the bird calls to its partner over my head, the cricket chirps under my feet; when I cannot concentrate on the task at hand because the creation cannot help distracting me — it is so vibrant — that, too, is your blessing. How blessed I am. How blessed to be witness that the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.