~ Our God's Handiwork ~
I find myself thinking once again on how creative our God is. The wonderful things that grow on this earth never cease to be an amazement to me. It seems as if every day I find something wonderful to feast my eyes on and to nourish my soul. I thought I would share a few with you today ...
~ The Parrot Fish ~
Some time ago I went to the pet store to get Ms. Dempsey (one of my fish) a friend. She has been looking kind of lonesome since Mr. Dempsey had past on. Unfortunately; the store was out of the species of fish that I wanted so I wandered around looking at the other fish. I happened upon a parrot fish and stopped dead in my tracks. Ok, so when this fish is swimming it; well, it just looks like a fish with a strange shape nose. But here is the beauty- when it isn't swimming then it stands upright and stationary in the water and I'll be blast if it doesn't look just like a parrot bird! I had to have it in spite of the fact that like most unusual things it was rather pricey. I rushed home and put it in my aquarium and enjoyed it for all of five minutes before Ms. Dempsey ate it. Two good bites and my parrot fish was gone to Glory. Still; it was an awesome fish! How magnificient for God to make a fish to look like a bird!
~ The Parrot Flower ~
Which leads me to my next discovery of God's creativity and imagination. The parrot flower. Can you believe it? A flower that looks like a bird! Who else but God could be so brilliant to think of such a thing.
~ The Corpse Flower ~
Next on the list is the "Corpse Flower" Let's look at the how this whole thing works ..
I am, by admission, a connoisseur of "educational" TV viewing. All of the Discovery channels, Animal Planet, How it's made, all of it. I love these shows! As it were I happened upon this show on the Smithsonian channel on exotic plants and flowers.
They showcased this one plant in particular that was completely breathtaking. The plant was perhaps 8 feet tall and produced a deep purple flower with a frilly white outer edges that was perhaps three foot tall and three foot wide. Huge flower. It reminded me of one of those old glass Victorian vases. Stunning!
It goes through various stages from a giant seed pod to the flower opening. In the picture I am sending the tubular center hasn't completely opened which is what gives the flower multiple layers. Eventually the layers build up to look like a vase. Sorry I couldn't locate the completed flower for you to see but at least this will give you an idea of what I am talking about.
Anywho; here is the kicker: The plant itself put off an odor of rotting flesh. According to the show in order to harvest the flower one had to wear a haz-mat suit because the stench is so over powering.
There is a specific type of beetle that are only attracted to the scent of decomposition. It follows the scent and then feeds from the decaying flesh matter. Because this plant has this particular odor then it attracts this specific beetle. The beetle then makes it home in the plant where it poops (poop from where it fed from something actually dead). It is this poop that the flower from the plant has to have in order to bloom. Without this particular poop then the flower pod will grow on the plant but the pod will not open up and bloom. That's genius!
~ The Iced Plant ~
Another plant that was showcased was an "ice" plant. Each of the leaves on the plant look as if they have a hard layer of ice on them year round but it's just an illusion. A piece of winter "wonderland" any time you want. How fantastic is that?
If our God who was so creative when He created this planet did all these things and more can you imagine what Heaven will look like? Talk about sensory overload.
As time passes I have found that as God realizes my fascination for His creative genius that He has really opened my eyes and reveals more and more of these things that He has made.
God wants us to appreciate Everything that He has done for us. Creating these exotic and unusual things He did for us to appreciate and enjoy. He did not create them because He was sitting around bored one day and just decided to hide a bird in a fish or a bird in a flower. You know? He made these things for us to enjoy His creative abilities. He created them so that we would know that there is a God and He is quite wonderful!
So once again I am thinking about God and His creative genius and imagination. What's on your mind today?
