Creation Nature Walk

"I found a pine cone!" Mariah picked it up and showed it to her mom.

"That's a big pine cone. I'm looking for little things, like this violet." Heidi smiled as she carefully set her violet in the cardboard box she was carrying.

"You're both finding some really cool treasures on our nature walk," Mom commented. "Remember that this is a science walk for our senses, so let's try to hear things."

"I hear the leaves blowing," Heidi whispered. "And the birds are singing."

"I hear the river making bubbles." Mariah giggled. "And I smell the mud by it."

"I can smell that too." Mom smiled. "I can also pick a flower like Heidi's violet and smell that."

"Yeah, and we touch all the stuff we pick up. This pine cone feels prickly. But we can't taste anything in the woods," Mariah pointed out.

"But we can taste the food we grow in our garden, and that's nature." Mom looked around. "What is one thing that all the things we've smelled, heard, touched, and looked at today have in common?" she asked the girls.

"They all grow?" Heidi offered.

"No, mud doesn't grow." Mariah laughed. "That would be funny."

"Growing is a good observation, Heidi," said Mom. "There are a lot of things that grow. But I was thinking about how they were all made."

"How they were made?" Heidi frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that all the things we can observe in the woods, from the giant pine trees to the small violets, were created by God," Mom said. "Even the three people walking through these woods right now were created by Him!"

Mariah laughed. "I love God's creation."

Mom smiled. "So does He. God created everything, but humans are His special creation. He created us in His image--that means we're able to have a relationship with Him through Jesus. He loves us and created everything in nature for us to enjoy."

"I think I'm going to put my little treasures on a poster and write ‘God's creation' on it," Heidi said. "I could even take it to church club and show my friends!"

-Kimberly Brokish