When I see trees and the sky it's easier for me to sing praise songs. Usually. Most of us christians acknowledge that It's a gift from God when we get to witness, taste, feel, experience something beautiful in creation. But it seems to me the way I've usually heard it growing up it's as if God happened to find something out there in the universe and thought you might like it, so he brought it - like a kid bringing flowers. The shortcoming with that take on the nature of God's "giving all good things for us to enjoy" is that it makes the gift totally separate from the giver, as if it's something totally other than Him that he wants you to enjoy. I think there's an element of that sort of giving in it, but it's more - you see, anything that IS enjoyable, that IS beautiful or pleasurable isn't just something God found, it's something he MADE! So whatever qualities we find pleasurable, beautiful, desireable in whatever goodness of creation we experience...those qualities come from the one who made that good thing, whatever it is, and in Him those qualities have a Fountainhead. That's why when I enjoy looking at the sky through the trees while singing praise, I'm conscious that all that I enjoy about the trees is part of the nature of the God I am singing to - that he gives a little bit of His own goodness through his creation and that's WHY I enjoy creation, because it's infused with the scent of the Goodness of my God.

Glory!

If you prayed for me about the apartment's response, I bless you. And may the Lord bless you.

I just called our apartment manager back today at lunchtime, and she informed me (in a very kind voice no less!) that she had credited our account for THREE HUNDRED dollars! That's like 50 dollars more than what I invoiced them for! I told her they didn't have to do that, she said 'no, we're happy to, since you've done the work and all' WOW! That was the opposite of what I was expecting. I am happy. My heart is full of happy juice. A crap free deck and money in the bank! life doesn't get much better.