Landscapes

I’m working at a summer camp/ranch this summer and have been lucky enough to get some time here and there to do some photography. Everyday as I walk around and go about my work, I really am blown away at some of the awesome landscapes surrounding me and it’s been a real reminder lately as well, that there is a God behind this “beauty” we see in nature.

I think as an artist especially (& I’m sure for everyone else as well) I can see how easy it is to unwittingly slip into a mindset of objectifying beauty, which I feel our culture and human history in general is pretty guilty of. Instead of allowing beauty to point us to God and enable us to praise him, we either allow it to become an idol in our lives, pursuing it as an end itself, or we just try to bottle it up and use it for other ends.

Thank God for that feeling we get when we look at scenes like the Grand Canyon, or these simple landscapes around me at camp, that show me a beauty that I can’t explain…one that I am not responsible for and have no hand in. They point me to something greater, they show me God’s goodness and power, and make me wonder what kind of amazing God could do such amazing things. I hate the days I’m so busy that I don’t even notice the beauty that surrounds me. That just makes me all the more thankful for God’s grace in pursuing me when my nature is to ignore and replace Him and thankful that God has not kept Himself from us, but points us to Himself through His creation.