Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | I’ve found a cure for the blues.  Well, it works for me, anyway, and maybe it would work for you. It’s very simple—just get outdoors and take a look at what God has made.

If you are like the majority of people in the world, you live in a city. And in a city you see more concrete than you do flowers and trees and stars. You probably spend most of your day indoors looking at things that are manmade, and as wonderful as some of those things are, the whole process is draining.

As soon as you can, schedule a day off for yourself when you can spend the entire day outdoors. I think you’ll be amazed at what it does for your spirit.

In her book When You’re Running on Empty, Cindi McMenamin says that if you do this,

“As you…appreciate creation once again, you will enjoy life rather than feel drained by it. Your anxiety will be replaced with appreciation, and your busyness with rest. Engaging your imagination and sense of wonder with life will slow you down and cause you to smell the flowers.”[i]

Scripture says, “O Lord, Who is like you–majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? “(Exodus 15:11).  “Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done” (Psalm 40:5).

Seeing God’s wonders out of doors is rejuvenating. Whether the area you live in is tropical, mountainous, desert or ocean, God’s creative wonders are there. All you have to do is spend some time noticing them, admiring their beauty–and God’s innovation.  Doing so will give you a renewed sense of who God is and what He can do. Cindi says, “To live with a sense of wonder is to believe God can do the incredible.”[ii]  Your faith will be built up and your tension eased.

Come on, you can do it. Schedule one day to be outdoors from sunrise to sunset—and be renewed by wonder. Your entire attitude will change for the better.

 

[i] Cindi McMenamin, When You’re Running on Empty (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2006), 154.

[ii] Ibid.