Designed for Glory

Tonight I have about 40 years of homework to complete, but this little paragraph in my Interior Environments textbook made me so excited, I have to share it.

"The following guidelines can help the beginning designer develop a discriminating eye for quality design ... Objects in nature should be carefully observed. Their play of light and shadow, their shape, texture, pattern, and color are fine examples of design."

That made me stop and take a double take. Really? A secular textbook recognizes that:
1) Nature reflects design.
2) Natural design is excellent.
3) Natural design is so excellent, in fact, that we should go to it to learn excellence in all design.

Wow. And how often do I gloss over the fact that the natural world, designed and created by my supernatural God, is there to proclaim His name? As I whine about the heat or the cold, as I tread over fallen leaves, smell the fragrance of the roses, am I deeply and utterly aware of the decibel at which these things shout the glory of their Maker?

Also, another thought: even an unbelieving textbook writer can recognize that we must turn to God to do things excellently. We are dependent on Him for anything good we wish to do. How then, do we learn from Him? By patiently sitting under His lessons. By studying His revelation of Himself. By learning from His beauty about His greatness, and trusting Him for every area of life.

We can--and should--endeavor to seek these things. However, we will never be perfect in them as our Heavenly Father is. How beautiful glory will be when we stand before Him and realize that all we've studied, all we've imagined about Him, is a faint and distant--almost laughable--representation of this intensely magnificent Creator.

So these, dear friends, are the things I'm considering as I go about my homework. No wonder it's taking me so long. But why would I want to speed it up? I mean, really. :)