Toadstools and Spanish Moss

August just lies down and stretches itself out over South Carolina.  Hot, always hot.  But sometimes very wet as well, as it was last week.  As a pluviofile (my new favorite word…means a lover of rain, someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days), I have been joyful indeed.

 

The hot, wet weather changes our landscape, making it greener and adding embellishments.  As I was leaving to go into town, I saw great fields and rings of toadstools filling the lawns of our community.  I call them toadstools; you can call them fairy seats if that makes them more appealing to you.  

 

And that’s the point.  When I have found them on my lawn in the past, I have gone after them with a vengeance and a shovel.  I would have called them nasty things.

 

 

But as I was driving out that morning, it struck me that they are quite beautiful.  Everything we see, smell, taste, touch, and hear is open to perception and interpretation.  And nowhere is that more obvious than in God’s creation.  Just ask one or two people how they feel about spiders or snakes.

 

When I was about seven, my daddy had to go to Ft. Polk, Louisiana for his work with the National Guard.  Hot, dusty Ft. Polk.  This was the fifties and I’m fairly sure our car had no air conditioning.  We found a park for our picnic on the way down.  It had lots of trees and looked cool and refreshing.  We unpacked our lunch.  

 

With a sandwich midway to my mouth, I looked around and up and noticed Spanish moss for the first time.  I finished my sandwich and drink in minutes.  I wanted out of there!  It looked spooky, eerie, and ghostly to me.  I had no affection for it whatsoever.  Here in South Carolina many years later, I will stop and pick it up off the road to take home and throw into my live oak.  Now I see it as silky, charming, and southern.  

 

How I perceive my world depends on how I feel about its Creator.  When I walk, I marvel at God’s good and perfect gifts.  And I thank my Creator God, Elohim.  Aside from Abba Father, I favor this name for God above the others.  The word in Hebrew has a masculine, plural ending and represents the Three in One.  All three persons of the Trinity – God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit – were present (and worked!) at the creation of the heavens and the earth.

 

My God made a world for me that reflects the facets of His nature…beautiful, breath-taking, creative, majestic, powerful, and whimsical.  When I value Him, I love my surroundings because He never tires of giving me gifts from nature.

 

Psalm 148:2-13

Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights above.

Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars.

Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.

He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away.

Praise the LORD  from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail,  snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.