I went to the Huntington Library in Southern California one Sunday on that same trip that I saw the wonderful sunset. One of my dear friends, Professor Li of Cal State Long Beach, brought me there, accompanied by his wife and one of his fellow professors.<\/p>\n
It was an awesome day. For literally the first time in the few months I’d been in Southern California, the sky was a clear blue (no smog!). The sun was out, and there was also a cool breeze.<\/p>\n
We started with \u201cEnglish Tea\u201d. To picture what this is, just imagine a Denny\u2019s Grand Slam Breakfast. Then, imagine what the exact opposite of that is. Tea, finger sandwiches, cheese and crackers, and little fruit tarts with impeccably fresh fruit. Fancy-schmancy, to be sure, but to quote my little niece, \u201cit was sooooo yummy\u201d. And quite sophisticated!<\/p>\n
Anyway, the Huntington Estate is a place to behold. I\u2019ve been to other places like this in Russia, Paris, China and New York, but this one had its own uniqueness. Walking in, you immediately saw a bright arrangement of pansies and poppies in every color of the rainbow. There was a Japanese Tea Garden with a beautiful vista overlooking a pond with bright orange Koi fish. There was an herb garden where you could pick and smell herbs (I got to smell \u201chyssop\u201d for the first time in my life). There\u2019s the world\u2019s biggest cactus garden with every variety of cacti you can imagine, in all kinds of intricate shapes and sizes and beautiful flowers. There were places where you could breathe in and experience absolutely glorious scents from fragrant flowers and plants.<\/p>\n
I saw a hummingbird for about the second time in my life. As I pointed to it, it darted out of sight just as quickly as it appeared. There were beautiful bamboo stalks that were shiny and bright green, and about 10 inches in diameter. There was an incredible little red flower that consisted of two round petals, each interlocking perfectly symmetrically.<\/p>\n
The magnolias were in full bloom, as were the azaleas and the pink cherry blossoms. The bright red Camellia flowers were too (I showed my cultural ignorance by failing to identify the tune that Professor Li was humming as from Verdi\u2019s La Traviata, which of course was adapted from Dumas\u2019 novel The Lady of the Camelias. Professor Li\u2019s professor friend gave the right answer. Needless to say, I hung my head in shame).<\/p>\n
After this, we went into a gallery with a nice art exhibition of British and American paintings of the 19th century. Some paintings were carefree, others deep and pensive, others downright disturbing. I\u2019m no art aficionado, but looking at many of the paintings, I started to understand what the life of many of the artists must have been like. In so many cases, the artist put so much of himself into his painting that you could immediately understand a great deal about the artist just by looking at his work. Just by looking at different aspects of the painting, from the subject matter to the composition to even the individual brush strokes, you could glean clues about the artist himself.<\/p>\n
Well, driving home that night, I saw a brilliant sunset over the mountains–the second beautiful sunset of that trip. And then it hit me.<\/p>\n
Why do I love nature so much?<\/p>\n
There are those who roll their eyes whenever I pontificate about a beautiful sunset or a sky full of stars. They tell me that these are just boring things that you can see anytime, and they don\u2019t see the attraction. Then, they rush home to play their video games or watch TV. Well, I don\u2019t fault these folks, but I wish they could understand what they\u2019re missing.<\/p>\n
I think I love nature so much because by looking at the creation, it tells me so much about the one who created it. God is the greatest artist ever. And God put so much of himself into everything that he created. He is in each flower petal and in each hummingbird and in the scent of a fresh rose and in the red hues of the sunset. And the most amazing thing is that he created these things out of love. He created these things for us. And while some try to understand God by doing deep research into theology or philosophy, sometimes I think you can learn a lot more about God just by opening your eyes and enjoying His creation.<\/p>\n
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\u2026<\/p>\n
– Romans 1:20<\/p>\n
——————————————————————————————— 2.<\/em> 3.<\/em> 4.<\/em> 5.<\/em> 6.<\/em> I went to the Huntington Library in Southern California one Sunday on that same trip that I saw the wonderful sunset. One of my dear friends, Professor Li of Cal State Long Beach, brought me there, accompanied by his wife and one of his fellow professors. It was an awesome day. For literally the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotionals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/namethathymn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/namethathymn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/namethathymn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namethathymn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namethathymn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/namethathymn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/namethathymn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namethathymn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namethathymn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n1.<\/em>
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world, and to my listening ears<\/em>
\nAll nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.<\/em>
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world: I rest me in the thought<\/em>
\nOf rocks and trees, of skies and seas;<\/em>
\nHis hand the wonders wrought.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world, the birds their carols raise,<\/em>
\nThe morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker\u2019s praise.<\/em>
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world: He shines in all that\u2019s fair;<\/em>
\nIn the rustling grass I hear Him pass;<\/em>
\nHe speaks to me everywhere.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world. O let me ne\u2019er forget<\/em>
\nThat though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.<\/em>
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world: the battle is not done:<\/em>
\nJesus Who died shall be satisfied,<\/em>
\nAnd earth and Heav\u2019n be one.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world, dreaming, I see His face.<\/em>
\nI ope my eyes, and in glad surprise cry, \u201cThe Lord is in this place.\u201d<\/em>
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world, from the shining courts above,<\/em>
\nThe Beloved One, His Only Son,<\/em>
\nCame\u2014a pledge of deathless love.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world, should my heart be ever sad?<\/em>
\nThe Lord is King\u2014let the heavens ring. God reigns\u2014let the earth be glad.<\/em>
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,<\/em>
\nFor dear to God is the earth Christ trod.<\/em>
\nNo place but is holy ground.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world. I walk a desert lone.<\/em>
\nIn a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.<\/em>
\nThis is my Father\u2019s world, a wanderer I may roam<\/em>
\nWhate\u2019er my lot, it matters not,<\/em>
\nMy heart is still at home.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"