And God Said, Surprise!

It started with maple syrup. As I dipped a bite of pancake in the pure maple syrup on my plate, it came to me. I was enjoying pancakes covered in tree sap! How remarkable this world is! Along with nuts and fruit, trees produce syrup, and even rubber and aspirin come from trees.  And, earth’s amazing little bugs—bees create honey, while fireflies have lights on their bottoms. I could go on and on, of course. God’s good creation has many marvels. The farther we look in the heavens, the more there is to see. Every so often we find strange-looking sea creatures still living thought extinct thousands of years ago. I wonder if God smiles at that and says, Surprise! God could have marked everything more clearly. Let’s see, all plants good for humans to eat will be green. If not healthy for humans, those inedible plants will be red. Or maybe, no color at all, just various shades of gray. We wouldn’t know the difference if we had never seen color. Though God created a well-ordered universe, he also included a surprising amount of variety. Thank you, Lord, for amazing us, entertaining us and surprising us every day!