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God’s Power in Nature and Us, February 23
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, so that men are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
, NIV.
In the cultivation of the soil the thoughtful worker will find that treasures little
dreamed of are opening up before him. No one can succeed in agriculture or
gardening without attention to the laws involved. The special needs of every variety
of plant must be studied. Different varieties require different soil and cultivation,
and compliance with the laws governing each is the condition of success.
The attention required in transplanting, that not even a root fiber shall be crowded
or misplaced, the care of the young plants, the pruning and watering, the shielding
from frost at night and sun by day, keeping out weeds, disease, and insect pests, the
training and arranging, not only teach important lessons concerning the development
of character, but the work itself is a means of development. In cultivating carefulness,
patience, attention to detail, obedience to law, it imparts a most essential training.
The constant contact with the mystery of life and the loveliness of nature, as
well as the tenderness called forth in ministering to these beautiful objects of
God’s creation, tends to quicken the mind and refine and elevate the character; and
the lessons taught prepare the worker to deal more successfully with other minds
(
Education, 111, 112
).
The same power that upholds nature is working also in man. The same great
laws that guide alike the star and the atom control human life. The laws that govern
the heart’s action, regulating the flow of the current of life to the body, are the laws
of the mighty Intelligence that has the jurisdiction of the soul. From Him all life
proceeds. Only in harmony with Him can be found its true sphere of action. For all
the objects of His creation the condition is the same—a life sustained by receiving
the life of God, a life exercised in harmony with the Creator’s will. To transgress
His law, physical, mental, or moral, is to place one’s self out of harmony with the
universe, to introduce discord, anarchy, ruin.
To him who learns thus to interpret its teachings, all nature becomes illuminated;
the world is a lesson book, life a school. The unity of man with nature and with God,
the universal dominion of law, the results of transgression, cannot fail of impressing
the mind and molding the character.
As the dwellers in Eden learned from nature’s pages, as Moses discerned God’s
handwriting on the Arabian plains and mountains, and the Child Jesus on the
hillsides of Nazareth, so the children of today may learn of Him. The unseen is
illustrated by the seen. On everything upon the earth ... from the boundless ocean to
the tiniest shell on the shore, they may behold the image and superscription of God
(
Education, 99, 100
).
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