As I was reading my devotions on my porch recently, enjoying the cooler breezes, I stopped and looked up to consider what I was reading. What threw me off my musings were the magnificent cloud formations. The sky was almost completely filled with dense, bulbous clouds. The perfection of this beautiful masterpiece was achieved with several shades of deep to middling blue peeking between the puffs. This skyscape was so fantastic that I had to bring my husband Neil outside and share it with him.

Indeed, a view this beautiful brought my thoughts to Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel. His stunning works and accomplishments are hailed throughout the art world but, as talented as he was, his paintings were mere copies of what the true Master had already fashioned.

When I think about amazing creators and artists my mind leaps to Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton and Michelangelo. Each of these men were involved with studying the very basics of the creation of God. Think of the key and the lightning project, the apple falling from the tree, the drawings of flying machines, and we see these brilliant minds striving to understand what God has created in this world of ours. God, our amazing Creator, our Father, and hopefully our Lord.

Consider Handel, the great musician, who brought us his “Messiah,” as well as Bach, Beethoven and Mozart – composers who freely gave the glory to God as the provider of their talents, pointing to the One who blessed them with unique skills. After listening to one of these famous works can we then imagine how superior the music will be in heaven – to say nothing of the clarity and nuance of the various instruments – which I will finally be able to hear!

I cannot begin to imagine what the colors in heaven will be like, but I am sure they are more intense and truer than those we see now. The mind of our Creator God brought forth giant dinosaurs and tiny nuthatches; clear cold shallow streams of water with abundant fish and huge oceans whose depths seem to reach to the center of the Earth. How wonderfully amazing!

Riding bikes later in the week we again witnessed the clouds in another glorious display, but this time they showed as multiple wispy smiles flowing all across the sky, appearing as if they might be used as hammocks for angel naps. How amazing! How Divine!

God our Creator has a mind so grand that my feeble brain cannot begin to imagine His joy of painting the landscape every day or bringing the rain to the desert and watching the flowers bloom that He designed and planted. If, for me, these things create great joy, what must the effect of my joy be on God?

I am sure He loves to bring me pleasure and is pleased when I then acknowledge and worship Him out of my joy in sharing in His creation. He created this sphere called Earth to be our special place to enjoy wonderful fellowship with Him. It must delight Him when we enjoy His bounty and more so when we acknowledge it is His great work.

Even as we fail in our attempts to consistently do His will, He continues to give us these wonderful simple daily pleasures of enjoying His creation. I do not remember being so entranced with God’s creation when I was not following His will. If that is the case for everyone, does it mean that God has opened my eyes to see beauty where others might not?

I think of the peace we see within the Christians who live in places that normally seem dismal or squalid. This makes me think believers in the inner city see beyond the cold reality of what we are shown on the news screens. They see joy and fellowship and hope in places that nonbelievers might see trash, the homeless and addiction. I’ll have to test this hypothesis out next time I am with those without belief. Or, maybe this is just for me – wouldn’t that be a special gift from God.

As humans explore the universe and all the sciences we can be assured that whatever is being developed here on Earth, that knowledge has already been in place in Heaven since the beginning of time. When I read of a new discovery that “changes everything we thought before,” I am delighted that God has allowed us further insight into His great creative works. What a privilege and joy it must be for scientists, artists and musicians to develop their skills and understandings as students under the Tutor Creator.

It is no wonder that we now sing with praise, “All glory, laud and honor, To thee, Redeemer, King.”

Editor’s note: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City. Email her at writerGoodGod@gmail.com.