God has shown us his gifts of creative powers at an undatable time to about 2000 B.C. when he did spread out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea, making Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, the chambers of the south, and does wonders without number (Job 9:8-10). Every beast of the forest and the cattle upon a thousand hills are his, for he knows the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field (Ps. 50:10-11). God himself has framed the earth and caused it to be inhabited (Isa. 45:18). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was created. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (Jn. 1:1, 3-4 ). After Christ himself purged of our sins, he sat down on the right hand of God – the Father (Heb. 1:3).

In six successive acts, God called into existence that which did not exist. He created not only the heavens and the earth, but aquatic and aerial life, man and woman, the moon, stars, sun, and the wind. Geologists and astronomers are convinced that his creations took a myriad of years to accomplish these feats. Fundamentalist theologians however feel, that they were accomplished within the course of six-twenty-four-hour days, since he rested on the seventh, the Sabbath (Gen. 1:1-31).

Fyodor Dostoevsky(1825–1881), a Russian novelist encouraged us to “love all God’s creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s lights. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery of things.” There is a divine mystery with the gifts of God’s creation that touch all things. We only have to be willing to open our eyes to be able to acknowledge his grandiose works.

An appreciation of nature comes during early spring. William Wordsworth (1770–1850), a well-known English poet captured this reality when he wrote:

“The birds around me hopp’d and play’d:

Their thoughts I cannot measure,

But the least motion which they made,

It seem’d a thrill of pleasure.”

How great it is of Wordsworth to view birds with such deep sentiments and understanding. Still, he regretted that the world was too much with us when he acknowledged:

“The world is too much with us, late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”

What a sad way to waste our hearts away in the things of this world!  People however recognize a certain sacredness concerning the gifts of our creation, especially in mankind. Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), statesman and the third US President declared, “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are created equal and independent; that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Jefferson here meditated on the gifts of men and women, their rights, and social standing in the American society.

John Milton (1608–1674), an English poet explained in Paradise Lost the predicament of Adam and Eve, when he asked her:

“O fairest of creation, last and best

Of all God’s works, creature in whom excelled

Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,

Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!

How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost,

Defaced, deflow’red, and now to death devote?”

Interestingly enough, the gift of mankind’s future was shaped by Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden. The price they paid for the gift of knowledge – knowing good and evil was death.