Last fall I planted some tulip bulbs and a earlier this spring they bloomed with vivid colors, announcing the coming of spring. They reminded me that summer was on the way and with it comes even more flowers and other beautiful growing things to delight my eyes.
Sometimes, I look around and see how beautiful our world is and how wonderful people are and how amazing life is and I wonder lots of things. How can tulips bloom right on time in the spring? Who tells them? Who makes the trees turn bright colors in autumn? How does a rose petal form so beautifully and smell so good? How can stars and planets just hang in space? How can birds sing so well that the musical genius Mozart, inspired by their chirping, wrote a piece of music based on the melody he heard? How can spiders spin webs? Really, how do they do this? How can the billions of snowflakes in the world all be different? How can an osprey swoop down from great heights and catch a fish? How does your ear process information just because a few invisible vibrations hit your eardrum?
This is all incredible and seems like a miracle, doesn’t it? Regarding miracles, do you ever stop to realize that every breath you take is another miracle? So are thinking, seeing, touching, and wishing upon the stars. They make life spectacular so it’s too bad that we often don’t stop to even think about them.
There are some beautiful sights in the world that will just take your breath away, just as an old slogan proclaims. The great musician Louis Armstrong must have noticed some of them because he sang these words:
“I see trees of green…….. red roses too
I see em bloom….. for me and for you
And I think to myself…. what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue….. clouds of white
Bright blessed days….dark sacred nights
And I think to myself …..what a wonderful world.
The colors of a rainbow…..so pretty ..in the sky
Are also on the faces…..of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands…..sayin.. how do you do
They’re really sayin……i love you.
I hear babies cry…… I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more…..than I’ll never know
And I think to myself …..what a wonderful world”…
Louis Armstrong, What a Wonderful World
For sure, our world is pretty wonderful and there are plenty of incredible places in our beautiful country. But, just breathing and eating and thinking and functioning every day are more impressive than seeing something that could take your breath away. Certainly, seeing is believing. But on the other hand, believing is seeing. If you believe our wonderful world was created, you’ll start seeing things in a new light. Daily observations and sights and sounds that you hardly noticed before will provide evidence aplenty of divine intervention and reveal the handiwork of the creator.
A quick example of this handiwork is the Ecuadorean Glass Frog. I’ve never seen one and you probably haven’t either, but if one crosses your path you’ll notice that you can almost see right through it. This hopper is so transparent that its beating heart is visible. No way! Yes, really.
Consider also, the bombardier beetle. It has two common materials in twin tanks on its back: hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone. By themselves, they’re harmless substances but when sprayed together, the beetle is able to blind predators looking for a meal.
That’s pretty amazing. It’s interesting to think about where these incredible critters came from. Are they the result of a cosmic accident or were they created? You probably have questions about our amazing world and you might even know some of the answers or have some opinions. For instance, what do you think about the food you eat, the air you breathe, the strength you have and the people you love? Did they just happen for you or do you see them as blessings from the hand of God? Here’s what I think:
In trees and flowers of the field,
In creatures large and small,
We trace the watchful care of Him
Who planned and made them all. —King



