I see His face in every flower

I have been listening to a song recently based on a poem by Joseph M. Plunkett.He led some Irish uprising in the early 1900's and died at age 28, being condemned to death for his activities. One of his poem's verses says,

"I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice -- and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words."
(I see His blood upon the Rose)

It is said that Plunkett had some relationship with God being a staunch Catholic. As I have listened to this song many times as I drive to work, I realize how much more I have learned to see God in the things around me.

Last night I saw a deer on the shoulder of the highway. Fortunately it bolted away from the road. But it was a refreshing reminder of God's presence after a long, hard and busy shift in Express Care.

As I go down the stairs from the parking lot to my apartment, I have watched some type of cedar tree as new needles come out at the end of the branches, bright green against the older dark ones. They were so soft as I touched them. I have caught wafts of the cedar smell and somehow the stresses of the day fade away.

There are many little ponds along the roads near my place, some right in front of houses. As I drive, I have always been rewarded with a sighting of a white egret - its reflection perfect in the water where it stood, a great blue heron - standing tall and straight in the way that they only can, or it is a heron flying - wondering how it can look so graceful when their bodies seem so big and their long legs trailing behind them.

As spring is giving away to summer, I have seen many flowers growing wild on the side of the road at different times. It has been fascinating to see one type for a week or so and then another type blooms for a week etc. I bought a rose bush and planted it in a big pot on my balcony. It is a miracle that with the total shade I get there that two buds are forming as it stretches out to find the sun.

The skies are pretty amazing whether it be fluffy white clouds moving gracefully, the deep blues of the clear skies or the varying shades of gray and black as thunderstorms are all around. And the sun poking through the clouds spreading its rays down to the earth which always thrills my soul and seems like that is how it will be when Christ returns. (Okay, I am a bit too caught up in the imagined pictures!)

I was struck this morning that lately I have often complained of the miles I am putting on my car and time spent getting from one place to another since I have moved. I guess my outlook has changed as I remind myself each time that, like the poem says, "God's face is in every flower" and for me in everything I see has His beauty as I look at it in this light.

What an amazing Creator God we have!