Do I See Myself as God’s Good Creation?

Once as I was enjoying the outdoors, I noticed a tree. From what I could tell, no human hands have ever touched this tree; it is just growing as it is created to be. An amazing revelation came to me… this tree looks exactly as God wants it to!

I asked God, “So, Lord, you want this tree to have gray thickly lined bark with knobs growing on the side?” Though I did not hear a response, the answer was obvious for it would not be, if God did not create it.

I wondered, if this is true about a tree, it is true about all of God’s creation. It means God wants trees and plants in many different color greens. He wants both flowers and grasses, and he wants them in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. He wants bunnies with soft ears. He wants dandelions with scratchy pointed leaves. He wants melodious songbirds and he wants buzzing mosquitos. For if he didn’t, they wouldn’t be.

I realize that if it is true about all of God’s creation, it is also true about me, and it is true about you, for we are all his creation.

Uniquely God’s

During a recent frustration, I decided to take our Lord at his words to St. Faustina from her Divine Mercy diary, “My daughter…why do you not tell me about everything that concerns you, even the smallest details?” The small detail is my changing post-menopausal body of which I am none too pleased.

“Lord,” I complained, “Where did this belly come from?  I work out, I eat healthy, I keep portions low and sweets to a minimum and yet it will not go away!”  What I heard astonished me, “Who told you that you are supposed to have a flat stomach?”

This response gave me great pause and caused me to ponder, ‘If God creates trees and plants and animals and insects with such variety, and if everything he makes is good (cf. Genesis 1:31), why are we spending so much effort trying to look differently than how we have been made? Are we not also created good?’

The Word of God testifies to our uniqueness:

How varied are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures (Psalm 104:24)

Do you see yourself as God’s good creation?

True Diversity

If we are conceived, it is because God has willed us to be. How we come into the world, male or female (cf. Genesis 5:2), is how God wants us to grow. But it is more than that.

He creates not only our physical attributes, but also our personalities, our emotions and our intellect. He made some of us analytical and lovers of numbers and others, like me, quite the opposite. He made some of us to prefer sports to books and some of us to love them both. He creates us extroverts, who are energized through others, and introverts who require solitude instead.

The Church testifies to Truth that humanity is united in God’s good creation:

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them (Ephesians 2:10).

The world speaks diversity, yet it is often just talk. It wants us all to look the same, act the same, and believe the same based on what the culture determines is beautiful and valuable. It is the culture, through the mass media, that told me my stomach is supposed to be flat!  It is God, who prefers working into infinite combinations from the same earthly matter his creation, both united and unique.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI writes how we can live this life of goodness we are created to be,

And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is.

Pilgrim Center of Hope exists to guide people to God. At our annual Catholic Women’s and Men’s Conferences, we provide speakers who teach, inspire, and challenge us in living out who we are created to be as men and women. We offer opportunities to encounter Jesus Christ through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Sacrament of Reconciliation and Eucharistic Adoration.

God is here… come see!

Nan Balfour is a grateful Catholic whose greatest desire is to make our Lord Jesus more loved. She seeks to accomplish this through her vocation to womanhood, marriage, motherhood and as a writer, speaker and events coordinator for Pilgrim Center of Hope

Answering Christ’s call, Pilgrim Center of Hope guides people to encounter Him so as to live in hope, as pilgrims in daily life. See what’s happening & let us journey with you! Visit PilgrimCenterOfHope.org.