{"id":24126,"date":"2024-09-03T10:53:11","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T14:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24126"},"modified":"2024-09-03T11:07:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T15:07:34","slug":"there-is-no-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24126","title":{"rendered":"There Is No Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"So Will I (100 Billion X) Lyric Video - Hillsong United\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C2U7ffUM5Ec?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to&nbsp;<em>see<\/em>&nbsp;something, and tell what it&nbsp;<em>saw<\/em>&nbsp;in a plain way\u2026. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion\u2014all in one.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>\u2014John Ruskin,&nbsp;<em>Works<\/em>, vol. 5&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In season six of the podcast&nbsp;<\/em>Learning How to See<em>, CAC Dean of Faculty Brian McLaren describes how contemplative spirituality supported his love for God in nature\u2019s depth and beauty:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was taught to see the natural world as God\u2019s creation. But largely, nature was only important because it either proved how great God was to make it, or it was a battleground in the culture war between evolutionism and creationism. It felt like heaven and hell were the only important items in the universe. Compared to heaven and hell, a red eft, or a fossil in a rock, or a crayfish were not so important.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I remember a song I really loved to sing in church. It was called \u201cFairest Lord Jesus.\u201d One of the verses said, \u201cFair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands robed in the blooming garb of spring.\u201d Those lines really rang true for me. Of course, what came next was, \u201cJesus shines fairer. Jesus shines purer.\u201d I remember thinking, \u201cWell, it\u2019s nice that we at least acknowledged how beautiful the meadows, woodlands, and springtime can be, even though we needed then to demote them in a way by contrasting their fairness with Jesus.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Years later, I came upon another song called \u201cHave You Seen Jesus My Lord?\u201d In that song there was a verse that said, \u201cHave you ever stood at the ocean with a white foam at your feet, felt the endless thundering motion? Then I say you\u2019ve seen Jesus my Lord.\u201d <strong>Instead of putting Jesus and nature in competition, saying that Jesus was fairer, or better, this song said, \u201cThe same beauty that you love and are drawn to in nature is the beauty that\u2019s in Jesus.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think in part that is what attracted me to contemplative spirituality. Instead of dismissing the natural world, <strong>contemplative spirituality invited me to see the divine in the natural world, to enjoy it for its endless depth of meaning and insight.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>McLaren invites listeners to recall looking at nature through a \u201cchild\u2019s eyes\u201d and what those experiences revealed:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It might\u2019ve been being at the beach and seeing a flock of seagulls in flight that suddenly made you aware of beauty in a way you\u2019d never felt it before, or it may have been the first dog that you really knew, loved, and connected with. It helped you think of intelligence that was different than your own, and beautiful in its own unique way. It might\u2019ve been some other scene where you felt sacredness, and holiness, and depth in the natural world. It\u2019s easy for us \u2026 to forget that childlike wonder at this beautiful world. We <strong>don\u2019t need to put God and nature in competition. Nature is God\u2019s original self-expression.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-500x295.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24131\" width=\"555\" height=\"327\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-500x295.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-300x177.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-768x452.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1536x905.png 1536w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png 1884w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to&nbsp;see&nbsp;something, and tell what it&nbsp;saw&nbsp;in a plain way\u2026. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion\u2014all in one.&nbsp;&nbsp;\u2014John Ruskin,&nbsp;Works, vol. 5&nbsp; In season six of the podcast&nbsp;Learning How to See, CAC Dean of Faculty Brian McLaren describes how contemplative spirituality supported his love [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24126"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24126"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24134,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24126\/revisions\/24134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}