Creation Contemplation (CaD Ps 104) – Wayfarer
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
Psalm 104:34 (NIV)
Among our local gathering of Jesus’ followers, we’ve been asking a lot of questions about distractions and attachments. Primarily, we’re asking ourselves some introspective questions regarding just how attached we are to our phones, tablets, and screens. And, how do those screens and the how the limitless amount of information and entertainment, literally at our fingertips, is forming us. While it might be easy to perceive this as some religious Luddite rail against technology, it’s really an attempt to ask some very sincere, personal questions about time, thought, habits, distractions, and Spirit.
Yesterday our Scottish crew (still stranded by COVID in America) was discussing the fact that back home in Edinburgh they would be spending a lot more time outside in the more temperate winter climate of the UK. Here in the snow and midwest deep-freeze of Iowa (-2 F this morning), that’s just not an enjoyable possibility. So there’s been a tremendous amount of screentime for the wee one as four adults try to work.
Today’s chapter, Psalm 104, is ancient Hebrew song of praise. The theme is the wonder of creation, and this is a great song for anyone who is fed spiritually by being out in nature. What is it that feeds your awe and wonder of the natural world? I know for a lot of people it’s the mountains. For me, it’s always been water. I love being on a ship out on the ocean, a sailboat, or even sitting on the dock in the morning at the lake. There is something spiritual and life-giving to sit in the quiet, to take it in, and to have undistracted time to think, ponder, dream, and meditate.
What’s really cool about Psalm 104 is the thought with which the songwriter structured his lyrics. This is obvious to the casual reader, but when you break it down, it’s really genius. It’s structured like concentric circles moving out from the center (like the expanding universe?), and as the stanzas move out from the center they are connected thematically:
Praise
Three Verses: Celebrating the celestial world above the earth
Five Verses: The earth’s foundations and boundaries
Nine Verses: The diversity and abundance of life on earth
Five Verses: The earth’s cycles and rhythms
Three Verses: Celebrating the nautical world below the earth
Praise
As I meditated on this in the quiet this morning… (Actually, it wasn’t quiet. I had a three-year-old watching a YouTube of Transformer toys on my lap.)… I couldn’t help but think about the thought the songwriter put in to not only write a song about creation, but also craft it so that the whole song’s structure was another layer of metaphor that speaks to the design, order, and structure of the universe.
There is something so beautiful in this that was worth my time this morning with which to sit and meditate. It motivated me to whisper my own quiet prayer of praise for creation that’s all around me.
I also couldn’t help but be reminded of these questions Wendy and I have been asking ourselves about the things to which we are attached, the things that distract us, and the limitless information and entertainment waiting for me there on the phone, the tablet, the television, and the laptop. I can go down the online rabbit hole so quickly and become immersed in a world of information that offers me little or no spiritual benefit.
Or, I can be mindful of making different choices. Which is what I’m endeavoring to do today.
Wayfarer 
What a wildly wonderful world, God!
I can’t say it any better. When I sit back, reflect and consider all that goes on around us and all that has been created by both man and God, it is absolutely amazing.
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One of my pet peeves—I have thousands of them—is seeing parents shove a screen device of one sort or another in the hands of their young, sometimes VERY young, children. In my uber judgmental view, it’s not only lazy on the parents part, unfettered access to electronic junk can be damaging to their child’s development.
Sometimes, the low tech approach is best. For example, parents might try conversing with their children, or with other adult family and friends. What a concept…
Reread “The Dining Room.” It’s one of the major sub-themes of the piece.
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Agreed. It’s too easy to let technology babysit children, but there’s no substitute for personal play and interaction. One of the things that YaYa Wendy inadvertently designed into the floor plan of our house was a circular race track from the kitchen, through the pantry, laundry room, mudroom, and back up the hallway to the kitchen. So, Milo and various adults will “run in circles.” Sometimes it’s a race, sometimes we make “dinosaur steps,” and sometimes it’s just playful chasing of one another in different directions. A little exercise, a little interaction, and a lot of fun.
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