I have just returned from a wonderful holiday visiting our son in Australia. One of the many highlights of the trip was travelling from Perth, on the west coast to Sydney on the east coast, some 4352km (2704 miles), by train over 5 days. This gave us fantastic opportunities to watch the changing scenery and play I spy for kangaroos, emus, and various other wildlife. (Odd that whenever we saw an unusual bird and looked up what it was, the answer was invariably “ the common Australia….)
The train trip helped us appreciate the vastness of Australia, and the huge expanses of seemingly uninhabited land.
What took 5 days on a train took about 2 hours by airplane and on our flight back I was able to see areas we had visited from the sky. The vast expanses of the blue mountains, straight roads across the outback going for 100miles into the distance and large salt lakes.
Another dimension to the trip was when we stopped in Cook – official population of 4(!) to gaze at the night sky. Of course this was the southern hemisphere, so the constellations were different to what we would expect to see back home. The Milky Way and myriads of shooting stars reminded me of the vastness, even beyond this world.
What we were able to share in, was the amazing variety of God’s creation that goes way beyond our understanding, but which we have been given the privilege of conserving.
Prayer: Creator God, you created the heavens and the earth. You created all things, a whole diverse array of life. Forgive us when we fail to praise you for your creation, and for when we cause harm and destruction through our own greed and selfishness. Thank you that you give us so many chances to care for your creation. May we respect and work together to conserve your wonderful world.