"they shout and sing together for joy"
Psalm 65:13
And today's topic....
you know it's coming...
Jim Henson.
Well, in a roundabout way.
Several weeks ago I stumbled on a show on TV, about the Jim Henson Creature Shop in Hollywood. It's a competition-type reality show, in which contestants design and fabricate puppets, monsters and other critters. It's been very interesting to see characters go from sketch pads to creations ready to "star" in a movie or TV show. Then at the end of each episode, one person gets eliminated. The ultimate prize is a job at the Jim Henson Creature Shop.
The challenge is something different on each episode, and a week or two ago, the contestants had to design a creature that blended into its surroundings. "Hidden in plain sight," they called it, and the idea was that you couldn't see it until it moved or spoke.
Each person's creature had a different habitat, like a grassy area, a swamp, a pond, etc. It was so interesting! Each person had a unique way of disguising the creature, and it gave them so much personality and appeal.
But here was the unexpected repercussion of watching that episode ~ every time I'm out and about, I keep imagining creatures in the bushes and trees around me. The grasses appear to be waving, the trees seem to to be winking... nature seems so friendly!
I love the idea of nature having a personality. And I can just picture the rocks and grasses and flowers and trees all praising Him.
Scripture mentions several times, the idea of God's creation praising Him, and it seems so, well, natural to me. I imagine joy and somehow, unbridled worship of Creator, by His creations. Psalm 148 says, "Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars...Let them praise the name of the Lord". And Psalm 65 says, "... the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks... they shout and sing together for joy."
Isn't that beautiful? And when we praise Him, we get to be part of that.
~ "some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him,
'Teacher, rebuke your disciples.'
He answered, 'I tell you, if these were silent,
the very stones would cry out.' " ~
Luke 19:39-40
~
What a great post! I'm not a pantheist, but I have thought for a very long time that we, being members of the animal kingdom, do not know nearly as much about the vegetable and mineral kingdoms as we think. Maybe the verses you cited are not metaphorical at all.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't think it's pantheism. More like: there are more things in heaven and on earth than are dreamt of in my philosophy!
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