an extension...

i am so ready for warmer weather... and i think i've pinpointed the reason i am in such dire need of spring to hurry up and get here already.. it is because i love to be outside.. and right now, it is too cold to be outside for any significant amount of time... aside from the occasional cold and miserable outdoor run.. i tend to post up next to any fireplace made available to me.. and read books.. don't get me wrong.. i love books. books are fine. but being outside is medicine for my spirit.. the perfect cure to any off-day... i dont know if there is anything i enjoy more than taking in, first-hand, the beauty of God's creation.. i am fascinated by creation.. creativity.. creating.. and one of the coolest things about creation is that its an extension of the one who created it.. every song you've ever heard.. or book you've ever read.. or painting you've ever seen.. etc. is an extension of the person who created it.. a little piece of who that person is slipped into the ingredients of whatever it was they conjured up in the creative process.. so when i look around at the beauty of the great outdoors.. i can't help but get all starry-eyed thinking about the beautiful God that created it all...and God really doesn't hold back when it comes to His creation... He wants us to know who He is.. and recognize his beauty.. there are so many different facets of His beauty.. the many colors of his personality evident in the changing of the seasons..

and there is something about being outside that i think aligns us with God as creator and puts everything in perspective.. or at least for me it does.. it's looking at the sky full of stars.. and knowing that it has looked exactly like that ever since the beginning of time.. or standing beneath an old oaktree.. preferably the kind with spanish moss hanging so low it touches the ground.. and knowing that tree has been growing there for a hundred years.. or standing at the edge of the ocean and knowing that you have no idea which shores the water rushing up around your ankles has seen or where it will go.. or hiking alongside a river up to the top of a 400ft waterfall.. and being utterly terrified and amazed at the same time as you gaze down through a rainbow at the fury of the water crashing so far below.. the earth is just so naturally beautiful.. there's nothing man can do to enhance what God has done.. nothing can make it better... creation, in its most simplified form... is more beautiful than any thing man could ever dream up on his own.. so we know that God must be the one behind it all... and He has set it before us... to enjoy.. what a beautiful gift..

indeed... i am ready for warmer weather so i can get back out into creation.. it's like i feel more connected to God when i can be outside.. so as soon as the weather warms up.. i, along with a friend or two.. will be venturing out.. making the most of our local options for outdoor activities.. whether it be the trails at petit jean.. climbing pinnacle (yes, even the hard side audra) riding our bikes all over conway, running salem trail, or just spreading a quilt out in the back yard to read a book... i'm ready for some fun-filled outdoor adventures.. days spent taking in the beauty of God.. or days of glory.. as some would call them...