“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” – Luke 12:27 (NKJV)
Isn’t it amazing how God created the world and everything goes together? It is hard to understand how anyone could think that it all could “just happen”. Children can learn much from nature, such as how God planned for it all to work together, gave it the nourishment needed, and an example of the resurrection.
God created plants and now sends the rain needed for them to grow. The sun, which is a big ball of fire that has burned for many, many years and not been consumed, gives warmth needed for both humans and plants. He sends rain to water plants and hydrate humans and animals.
What are some of the lessons we can learn from nature? First, God is above us all. Why should we even bother to question one who has done all He has done? Another thing that can be learned is that we need to be patient. Plants don’t produce quickly. When we work with our children, it isn’t wise for us to always expect immediate results. Sometimes it takes time for ideas and understandings to grow.
Perhaps one of the most important learnings is that of resurrection. After trees and other plants die in the fall, they look completely dead. Trees have brittle limbs and seem to have no life at all. Then comes spring and they begin to bud and blossom. Could this be God’s way of showing us about our death and resurrection? We die and it seems that all has ended. However, there is new life in heaven for those who have accepted Christ as their personal Savior! The trees and other plants go through a cycle of life similar to ours. There is new birth in the spring, then growth similar to a child’s growth, then maturity in the summer, and death in the fall. The spring is a great time to explain life after death to a child.
How can one look at the stars and know that God knows each of them by name and not be impressed? “He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name” Psalm 147:4 (NKJV).
Also, in Jeremiah 31:35 (NKJV) we read more about God and nature. “Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name).”
Why not take the children for a walk and take time to look at a leaf closely. Pick a blade of grass and show the children all the little lines in it and tell them how God planned it for the water to get where it needed to go. After doing so, how could they ever doubt that there is a God? These things could never “just happen”!