I'm Thankful for the World God Made

Each day until Thanksgiving, Everyday Truth is looking at a different reason to be thankful in a family devotional. Use these devotionals with your kids to help keep your family focused on giving thanks. If you missed the introductory post, check it out here for directions on creating a "Thanksgiving wall." When you're done wiht the devotional head on over to the Everyday Truth Facebook page and join in the discussion of why we're thankful for God's creation.

Have you ever seen a platypus? It's a funny looking creature, with a beak like a duck and a tail like a beaver. It can swim and live on land. I don't know about you, but if I had been making up animals, I probably wouldn't have come up with the platypus. But God did.

God also created the elephant and the fly, the blue whale and the hummingbird. God made the ostrich, a bird that can't fly, and the flying squirrel, a squirrel that can. I have a pretty good imagination, but I doubt I could have come up with the wide variety of animals that God did.

Not only did God put an amazing assortment of animals on the earth, He created the flowers, the trees, the grass, the desert, the ocean and the rivers. He made parts of the earth warm all the time and parts of the earth so cold all the time that it's impossible for people to live there.

God spent six days making the world and everything in it. And when He was done, He declared that it was good. Psalm 146:6 says "He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever." God made everything in the world, from the smallest grain of sand to the largest elephant.

God could have made everything the same color and the same size. Imagine how boring that would be. He could have given us just one kind of food to eat. Every animal and flower could have looked the same. But He didn't. He filled the world with color and variety so we could enjoy His creation.

When you're outside today, take some time to look around. Notice the things God has made. See the beautiful array of colors and listen for the different sounds in the world. Find one thing in the world God made that makes you smile. Thank God for the amazing variety found in His creation.

Write down one thing you saw today in God's creation that made you thankful. Add it to your Thanksgiving wall. Pray and thank God for making such a beautiful world.

Celebrate Fall

Ben Wilson

The trees are starting to change colors in our neighborhood. Soon, the streets will be lined with a riot of color -- yellow, red and orange. The temperatures should start to drop, and the crisp days of fall will be here, reminding us that winter is on its way.

I love fall. I love the beauty of the mums blooming and the trees changing. I love a crisp fall day. I love watching my kids jump in the piles of leaves we have just raked. Pumpkins and gourds start to adorn tables and front steps.

Fall is a great time to stop for a moment and enjoy the beauty of God's creation. It's the perfect time to make a mug of apple cider, step out onto the porch and simply revel in the amazing world that God made.

God could have chosen to make a world that stayed the same all year round, but He didn't. Even in tropical locations, the seasons change from dry to rainy. While the desert may seem to always be hot, even the nights in the desert can get cold when the seasons change.

God's creation holds amazing wonders for us to discover, but often we're too busy to notice. How many years have the mums bloomed and the leaves changed where we simply accept it as part of the norm and never take a moment to enjoy the beautiful panorama God has given us?

It's when we stop to take notice of the things God created that we get a sense of how truly awesome God is. He didn't miss any detail. He created a world that includes the elephant and the spider. He created the hummingbird and the eagle. He even made the platypus, just to keep things interesting.

David found that studying God's creation made him feel small in relation to God. He said "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?" (Psalm 8:3-4)

It was only when David realized the awesomeness of God by gazing on His creation that He was awed by the idea that God loved Him. While God doesn't want us to feel bad about ourselves, He does want us to realize how great and awesome He is.

When we take a moment with our kids to stop and enjoy God's amazing creation -- whether your trees turn red in the fall or not -- we encourage them to get a picture of how big, powerful and creative God is. The same God that made the blue whale also made the delicate petals of a rose.

So, take a moment today to bask in the beauty of God's creation. Point out the variety and detail within the things He created to your kids. Get a sense of how truly great God is and how wonderful it is that He loves us and wants a relationship with us.

Let the beauty of autumn remind you of the awesomeness of God.