Let All Creation Rejoice

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;

let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

Psalm 96:12

The beauty around us amazes me - I just have to be willing to look at things I sometimes take for granted.  Hmmm.....There are more pictures on my Flickr page - you can find it here.

Pi Day

I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,

And will glorify Your name forever.

Psalm 86:12

My partner and I missed celebrating Pi Day with our classes.  If you're not a math person, Pi Day is on 3/14 - the first three digits of pi, which is defined as the ratio between the circumference of a circle and it's diameter.  Technically, celebrations for Pi Day aren't supposed to begin until 1:59 (the next three digits of the ratio).  We could've had pie and we missed it!  Darn!  So, long story short, I was listening to the radio on my way home from school on Thursday, and the announcers were talking about pi.  Did you know that someone has actually taken the digits of pi (which, by the way, has not been totally mapped - it is a non-repeating decimal that has been calculated out to over 10 trillion digits - you can find the wikipedia article here), and have used those digits to musically represent the number?  Cool, huh?  Here's the music of pi.

Here's my thoughts.  God puts His imprint all over our world and our universe.  There is wonder and pattern in everything we see, everything we hear, everything we touch.  The closer we look, the more evidence is revealed.  We are smack dab in an amazing creation, put there by awesome God - who astonishingly - cares about and loves us.  Why would we ever want to do anything but praise and worship Him?

Heavenly Father, God of the Universe, thank you!  Thank you for this marvelous work - your creation. Let me glorify you today and always, in my thoughts, my words, and my actions. 

Crochet and Creation

This is crochet.  These are pictures from a hoodie I made for my niece's baby girl.  One of the attributes of crochet that I find fascinating is the variety of stitches and patterns that can be made.  I especially like the textural look and feel of crocheted cables - the Aran look.  It involves something called front and back posting - skipping some stitches and then coming back to them from the front or the back.  The cables are literally twined relief stitches - they actually go behind and in front of each other.  Cool, huh?  If you're interested in the pattern, you can find it here.

But there's more.  It has to do with the making.  It satisfies me.  So, what's so satisfying about crochet?

Crochet is a process of creating fabric from yarn, thread, or other material strands using a crochet hook.  The word is drived from the French word "crochet", meaning hook.  Hooks can be made of materials such as metals, woods or plastic and are commercially manufactured as well as produced by artisans.  Crocheting, like knitting, consists of pulling loops through other loops, but additionally incorporates wrapping the working material around the hook one or more times. Crochet differs from knitting in that only one stitch is active at one time (exceptions being Tunisian crochet and broomstick lace), stitches made with the same diameter of yarn are comparably taller, and a single crochet hook is used instead of two knitting needles.  Additionally, crochet has its own system of symbols to represent stitch types.
                                                                                                                      (Wikipedia) 

So, I guess you aren't actually making something from nothing - you need a hook and you need some yarn.  (Actually, hooks aren't always necessary, either.  I've seen some beautiful crochet done using the hand and arms as a hook.)  The point is, though, that creating a product fills an empty spot in my being.  I suppose it always has.  I like to draw.  I like to cook.  I write.  As I sit here, I think part of the satisfaction I get from writing lesson plans for my students is in the actual creation of the lessons.  

Imagine, then, how God feels.  He created this world and all that is in it from out of the void.  He made something from nothing.  He is the ultimate Creator.  He created us - in His image.  I'm thinking that he created that empty spot in us, as well.  He wants to share the satisfaction of creation with us.  

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth....God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Genesis 1

Thank you, God, for Creation.