God's Appreciation of the Aesthetic

I suppose I first thought of this subject when we lived in Belize and realized that there were so many beautiful flowers out there in the hills and mountains that nobody would ever see. It seemed God made this beautiful hidden beauty simply for himself to enjoy. It didn't matter that no one else was aware of the flowers. I was so impressed with this beauty that I began to video some of these flowers and greatly magnified them on the screen.

There are many other amazing matters reflecting an interest that God had in his creation that has little
relevance to mankind or the rest of creation. Take color, for instance. There are very few practical values of hues- well perhaps for bees to find sources of sweets, but are not many animals color blind? Color is for beauty, which people enjoy just like God who created it for himself and us.

Or take tastes. Why should anything be sweet, or salty, or sour, or like any taste? People would eat out of hunger even if there were no tastes. Like color, taste has very little practical value except to give pleasantness to eating beyond the need to eat and feel better. Taste makes eating pleasant as a bonus to eating. There are various things we eat for the pleasure of eating, not for their necessary or value to our bodies. We eat butter on bread for taste, not nutrition. Likewise as suggested, sugar has no essential function to the body that can't be met just as well other ways. The whole soft drink business flourishes not for its practical value to the body- but for the pleasure of drinking pleasant tastes. Foods are flavored for aesthetic reasons, not for practicality and nutrition, usually. There are aesthetic bonuses to eating beyond necessity.

Or why should sex be pleasurable? The procreative act could simply be a matter of choice and practicality like eating when we want to have children,. But there is a bonus of ecstasy far beyond the “Task” of creating a new life. You might imagine the sheer joy God had in creating man in his image, a joy of creating human life "in his image". This elation he passed on to mankind, as we create new life generation after generation.

You can also consider the sheer exultation of flinging out the planets and galaxies and the most distant stars as celestial bodies so vast and distant that the earth would have been no more than a mud puddle in comparison. At the other extreme in size, the hobby of creating the smallest units of matter, far sub atomic where electrons gleefully dance around protons with the speed of light. That is still intriguing scientists to discover. Stuff could simply have been made simple stuff. God didn't stop at just doing it the easy way. No, he tinkered with sub-matter, and no doubt enjoyed doing it with greater enthusiasm then any inventor of things in the modern world. We take pride and joy in our creations, trivial as they may be in comparison to the complexity of matter. Whether they are material like a computer or “i-machines”, or intellectual as in writings, or artistic as in paintings or architecture. It seems we have the compulsive joy of creating just like our Creator, how be it in a miniature pattern, perhaps a bit like a child playing in the sand on a beach by an ocean.

What is our greatest aesthetic investment? What is God's greatest project? Did he just set everything up for the fun of making it and admiring it; just standing back watching his universal machine work? I can't believe God would then only stand at a distance in amusement, when there is so much to communicate with his most intelligent creature- which we assume we are! And does he only try to communicate with us? How about all higher mammals who have some intelligence? But the even insects seem to have some intelligence- bees can communicate to each other and dogs howl, and endlessly other creatures are able to communicate. Why would not God want to have a relationship with all creation? I don't know what molecules would say to each other or to him. Who knows?

Several days ago I was watching over our grandson, Baby Noah, now 8 months old. He crawled through the grass, back to me, over me, stabilizing himself by holding on to me. He toyed with everything his hands touched and then went on to other matters. It seems he was trying to learn all about his world and his place in it. He didn't use any words to communicate with me. Yet we did communicate to each other. How I wished he could talk to me! He seemed to know me, that I cared about him, that he was safe with me. So I believe God's greatest aesthetic interest is in continuing with his creation, ever waiting for all creation to respond to him. He tries again and again in all ways imaginable, to tell us that he is there for us. He longs for us to communicate with him on the level of our maturity. Sometime Baby Noah will speak to me. He know me- somewhat. But it is his development that is in process. He was created to relate. He will in his time. We suppose much of material is inanimate. Maybe not. God's greatest goal is that all creation would recognize him and respond. At least we know that we who call our selves mankind can respond. That, I believe is God's greatest aesthetic goal and appreciation.

                                                 I DO MISS HER

It is so different when she is gone. There is no one to talk to around here unless a neighbor comes around. What thoughts I have must be kept to myself. Or what joys I have I can’t share. Like glancing out the front door window and I see a rabbit hunched up in the wet grass and he just sits there for period of time. I must wait until she returns, or like when a neighbor brings me pizza and offers to bring soft drink as well. I have to eat it alone. It is different being alone.

I like reading and listening to old music and videos. But when I find an amazing video of the newborn grandson, just 12 hours old; and the beaming mother who is so full of love, joy, and total peace so soon after child birth, I must wait until she come home to share it. When I want to share it with this mother after twenty some years, she also is not there. I must retreat to the lonely house and go about my business.

My first real bout with alone-ness was the first morning after a very restless night being awake a lot with muscular aches and pains like flu or malaria. I am alone to bare my misery. When I get up, I feel just the same with tiredness as well and feel like retreating to the bed where I had no comfort before. How I wish I had someone with whom to share my misery and get some comfort! It is not too bad to sleep alone, while I am sleeping- but to wake up alone when I am miserable, that is something else. I struggled through the day and was releaved by the afternoon. But I was still alone. I called her on the phone and got a little pity, but it was nothing like her presence when I was miserable.

Then there are the little inconveniences, like deciding what to cook and then to eat it alone. The dishes still just sit there this third morning. With that cut on my thumb, I would have a good excuse to have her do them if she was here. Actually I wouldn’t even have to have any excuse- she would just do them. But can I wait to have them done till she returns? What a welcome that would be to her! And a confession of my ineptness of living alone. I also then think of what it would be like if I was always alone. I think of persons I know well who have been alone for years. I just can’t imagine being happy that way. Would I get used to it? I doubt it. True, “it is not good for the man to be alone”.

Loretta in Ohio for several days, August, 2009

Rebloged as she is at a Women's Retreat, October, 2016

                                       How Does God Feel About Our Response?

This morning as I was waking up beside my wife, I rolled over to her and lay close to her, enjoying the warmth and softness of her body. She did not move. Whether or not she was conscious of my nearness, I don't know. But it set me off thinking about another love that people may or not respond to- God's love.

In so many ways and times, God wants to be close to us and desires our response as well as that of the whole world of people, whether persons are conscious or not of that fact. Some people are partly conscious of God's love and may have been as my wife. They may choose to respond or not respond and “snooze on” in their indifference. I wonder how God feels about that indifference.  No doubt he comes to many if not most people many times, and receives only partial response of returned love, or worse, even no response even though his love should have easily been sensed.

The irony is that God loves people so much and would do many things, almost every conceivable thing, for people to know that he loves them. No doubt he comes again and again and in many ways, hoping that somehow persons would turn around and embrace him. It seems if persons knew how much He loved them they would love him in the most intimate way possible, trying to return the love they feel from him. But it seems most people respond only partly and rationalize that they really do love him, while going on in their own way most of the time.

All this make me wonder how God feels about this half-hearted response of persons, or even less by people who are oblivious to his nearness and with whom he desire a reciprocal response. He being of infinite love, probably never gives up as long as people have consciousness and are able to respond in this life. Again and again and in many ways he reveals his nearness, providing for us in all our needs, giving us a beautiful environment in nature, and living in us by his Spirit as much we will allow him  to. But it bothers me that people can be so oblivious to his attempt to be near and experience his deep fellowship. What joy he could share with us if we only responded to him fully! What more do we want of him? Is our lonely life better without his closeness? How can we be satisfied by ourselves and be not responding when he does come as close as he can be, and in so many ways?  

                                                            God Was There

Even after so many years of being a believer, I still wonder sometimes why God seems to be doing so little about devastating world conditions. We talk about this in our morning devotions and pray. But I don't often feel his actions in my own personal life. Well this morning something happened I will never forget.

We were working at a rental unit and I was attempting to move a very heavy door down the stairs. It could have weighed close to a hundred pounds, quite a load for an old man. I had it balanced at a landing several steps from the top and was trying to get it in position where I could slide it down the stairs on the edge of the door. As I was trying to get it into position, it suddenly turned on me and came down on me and I went sliding down the stairs,  on my back, head first, with the door at least partly bearing on me. When we, the door and I, came to rest on the the living room floor, I crawled out and stood on my feet with only a slight soreness on my thigh, apparently from bumping down about 8-9 steps. My wrist may also have struck something but with no lingering pain.

My response immediately was “thank you God” that I survived. A minute later another thank you as I realize even more what could have happened, and a third thank you as the truth began to grip me, that if I survived what could have been fractures in legs, hips, even back or neck. Not even a bump on the head as I came down those stairs up side down, totally out of my control. (I might even have been unable to write this from a hospital bed!)

Could I  now doubt God presence and shielding that was I practically unhurt in such a dangerous accident? At home I rehearsed the whole event and shed a few more tears at the goodness of the protection of the hand of God. I hope I will never forget for  moment that God is our protection in daily life. Even daily driving the speed limit can put us within 2-3 seconds of total disaster. Yes, God is our protection always, whether we feel it or not.

                                          Who Reads these Blogs, Anybody?

For over three years I have shared writings of matters of interest to me and hopefully to others. There have been indications of checking in from over 50 countries and page-views of over 3,000. Yet I wonder, who is checking in on my blogs. So I am inviting persons to respond by email if they are coming across my blogs. It would also be of interest to know what people find interesting. I would even be open for dialogue with anybody who wants to ask for further clarification. Or if you want to challenge anything I had written. I want to respond to any and all responses. My email address is lornoah@comcast.net.

Sincerely, Noah Hochstetler

                                  The Life of Plants

Do plants have souls? That begs the question of just what a soul is. Souls are the eternal life of a being. Life has feelings, as a bit of God-nature within. Thus souls are precious, valuable to other life- human life and the whole ecology of nature. That sets the stage for my feeling for plants in this setting of fall, where so many plants have to die because of the season.

It was painful for me when there were predictions for freezing temperatures which would mean the death of many plants. I had to spade out some beautiful marigolds and place them in a big pot and set them in the house which was already loaded with several dozen other pots that we had brought in from the patio. Also, I sniped off other small slips to prolong their life which we would enjoy for a longer period of time. Some plants had grown so big in the summer rains on the patio that it was awkward to find suitable places for them in the house, like on the dryer and in front of the patio door which hinders us from using that door.

It was with sadness that I observed the plants outdoors, knowing that their life would be cut short so soon. At the rental property, there were exotic coleuses shining forth in their final glory and I had to bring home some snits and place them in vases for replanting as a new generations of beauty, sustained over winter, while their parents had to moved on into a next phase of life. A day or two later at that rental I again visited those plants and saw that they had mostly succumbed to the cold night, with only a few lower stems surviving. I had to wonder if we should have some kind of funeral for this dying beauty.

Back home, walking past some of those preserved plants in the hall way that made passing a bit difficult, I praised God for the beauty of those plants where God lives on in the souls of those plants. They fill the house and I have to visit them almost daily to see if they needed watering. They are my pets, more patient then any puppy or kitten. They respond to me in exuding their beauty with gratitude that I try to give them some sunshine view and water for their souls. Yes they are alive. They share with me the glory they have from God who generated them out of his love. They reflect His sense and love of beauty and share that with me, an indication to me that they also are God's children even as I am. No doubt God cares for them just like he does for me. Thus it is sad when fall comes for them as I am also reminded that I am in the fall of my life.

Life is a mystery in many ways. The beauty of it all. The transitions that are inevitable. The tragedy of the seasons that bring death. And the heavenly Father who cares about it all and lets it happen. Seems doubtless that we will ever make sense of it all. We can only celebrate life by appreciating the life God gives and resign ourselves to the inevitability of its conclusion as God allows. Maybe it will all become clear in eternity. Meanwhile we will just enjoy the life God gives in the souls of all creation.

More on the above mystery of life and death.

In our devotional thoughts following our morning reading we were discussing the above comments on how I loved the plants and grieved at their dying and impending death at frost time. We were struck at the fact that life always comes back again in the spring, just as glorious as it had been before, as if nothing had been lost, in the death of the fall freezing. Considering that we also are in the fall of our life and that winter always comes after fall, we recognized that life will continue after us and in our own beauty of life, dedicated to God, in the lives of our family. We even confidently considered that much more will bloom in the coming generations than we did. Not more is lost than in nature as fall takes away one beauty to make room for another beauty in spring to follow surely. An old man in the Bible wrote, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 4) 

                                                                                                                                  JANUARY 6, 2016                                                                                                                          

                      From the Heart and Mind of Noah

Over the past 27 months, more than 80 blogs have been posted, largely as they ruminated in my mind. They are on many subjects, appearing in rather random order. I can easily imagine some reader came on one by chance and found it on less than of a personal interest. So here I am posting an index with groupings on similar subjects and with dates on each one so they can be found by date, thus enabling a reader to go for the subject and any particular blog of interest.

     1. Love, What It Is To Me                                          [Blogs at noahhochstetler.blogspot.com]

To Like and To Love 5-1-13 with dates blogged]

New Love and Old Love 3-5-13

When You Really Love A Person 3-8-13

Feelings About Four Sons 5-27-13

Healing Love. The Kingdom of Heaven is Like.... 7-8-13

I Do Miss Her 10-1-13

Love Reflections 7-10-13

Little Tyreck 4-1-13

Loving with Heart and/or Mind 11-21-14

     2. Biography, Who Was I?

Stories Of My Early Childhood 4-1-13

A Trip East When I Was Young 5-1-13

Me and Daudy 6-10-13

Me and Daniel 3-18-14

Me and My Mother 9-4-14

Me and Dad 8-6-13

Me and Brother Norman 7-14-13

My Youth Years 16-20 8-29-14

     3. Dealing With Wealth- What Do You Do With All That Stuff?

The Christian and The World's Poor 1-16-14, also on 2-6-13

One of My Dad's Hobby Horses 8-26-14

Toward a Philosophy of Distributing This World's Goods 5-1-13

Giving to The Poor, Biblical and Cultural Reservations 5-27-13

To Family Members, A Report of Visiting Belize, 2013 3-13-13

What Is My Worst Sin? (To Hate) 7-14-13

So You Are Looking For Channels To Help The Needy 9-26-14

 

     4. Humor- What's So Funny About That?

Shopping- Creativity Out Of Boredom 3-6-13

People Are Like Animals? 4-1-13

Some Things I Believe About a Woman But I Am Not Sure They Are True 3-27-14

Forgive Me Again, But... 7-23-13

I Am A Scrounger 1-13-14

     5. From Icons of My Life, A Celebration of Seventy Years

Seventy Blessings of My Life 5-1-13

Seventy Highlights Of My Life 3-8-14

Seventy Things I Never Did and Probably Never Will

Seventy Things For Which Life Is Too Short 6-15-13

Seventy Things I Want To Do In My Remaining days 10-16-13

Seventy Things I Still Wonder About 11-4-13

Seventy Characters and Traits in our Family 11-18-14

     6. Inspiration- What Urges Us To Continue?

The Cost and Rewards of Discipleship In Mission In Belize 3-5-13

We Met Angels In Mexico 5-2-13

Three Views of Culture 5-1-13

My First Glimpses of Heaven 6-10-13

What Is Heaven Like In My Mind? 3-6-13

My Dreams 8-10-13

Our Center of Life 34-28-14

Love Your Neighbor As Yourself 3-5-13

The Proverbs of Noah 5-27-13

The Kingdom Is Close, But... 4-1-13

David and Kingdom Life 4-29-14

It's The Christmas Season 12-18-14

 

     7. Worship, Who and How We Worship

God, Our Loving Creator 3-5-13

The Sacredness of Nature 5-1-13

God's Appreciation For the Aesthetic 10-7-14

How Is God With Us? 8-27-13

Is Our God Too Great For Us? 2-29-14

The God of Intimacy

A Call To Care and Pray 10-26-13

A Call To Pray 12-9-14

What Is Our Devotional and Worship Emphasis? 11-4-14

What Does It Cost? 2-1-15

Our Focus on Prayer- Intercession 2-13-15

“We are Special” 5-5-15

What Contrasts! 3-27-15

     8. Getting Older- What Else Do You Expect?

Introduction To Aging Reflections

Aging Ideas, What Do They Call The Decades 10-4-13

What Is Different Being Seventy 10-4-13

Too Much Help? 4-1-13

How Bad Will It Be? 10-4-13

I Live Cautiously 10-4-13

At Our House 4-1-13

What Am I Doing? 3-6-13

     9. Various Writings

Epic Similes From Belize 5-1-13

Epic Similes After Belize 4--1-13

Why Write and Have a Blog 3-10-13

Science and The Bible 10-15-13

Christian Stewardship as Taught in Belize 1-4-14

Our Present Relationships with Belizeans 3-`4-14

Reflections On My Leavings and Longings 9-14-14

A Drive into the Country Yesterday

10. Videos from Youtube
11. 
    
12. Don't Blink by Kenny Chesney 7-24-13

Chuck Stoner Visits Nicaragua 7-10-13

Micheal's Children Home Singing 12-13-14

Angelina Jolie Left Speechless 1-28-15