All Creatures of Our God and King

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." Genesis 1:24

       Francis of Assisi believed that nature itself was the mirror of God. He called all creatures his “brothers” and “sisters”, and even preached to the birds and supposedly persuaded a wolf to stop attacking some locals if they agreed to feed the wolf. In his Canticle of the Creatures (“Praises of Creatures” or “Canticle of the Sun”), he mentioned the “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon”, the wind and water, and “Sister Death”. He referred to his chronic illnesses as his “sisters". His deep sense of brotherhood under God embraced others, and he declared that “he considered himself no friend of Christ if he did not cherish those for whom Christ died”.

Focus Your Thinking & Lather up with a bit of SOAP.

• Scripture: "... beast of the earth after his kind " from Genesis 1:24
  
• Observation: God doesn't bring beast, fish, or fowl into the world without companions.
  
• Application: The creator makes us plural just as he makes the beasts plural. He never intends for us to live, create or resolve our problems by "living inside a vacuum." We are created to be in communion with both God and our extended families. 
• Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to remember to spend quality time with you and my loved ones, apart from the noisy distractions of my day. Please make sure that I give you my undivided attention at dawn and my undivided attention at dusk. Also provide me with opportunities to listen carefully to my family and respond respectfully to their needs. Amen.

Focus on Illustrating A Hymn and a Scripture.

       I chose to illustrate both a hymn and the scripture above with a simple print of a zebra mamma and her young. I carved a piece of linoleum and printed the image you see here with only two colors: black and teal.

       After the print dried I tipped-it-into my Bible after sewing it between a sheet of light weight plastic. Then I used a sparkling, copper washi tape to attach it near to the Genesis 1:24 text.

How to make a simple linoleum print:

• The Linocut Process
• Linocut Process: Hummingbird Print
  

       All creatures of our God and King was written by Francis of Assisi in 1225. I wrote the first stanza of the hymn behind my print of two zebras.

All creatures of our God and King,
lift up your voice and with us sing
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
thou silver moon with softer gleam,
O praise Him, O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! 

Thou rushing wind that art so strong,
ye clouds that sail in heav'n along,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,
ye lights of ev'ning find a voice!
O praise Him, O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! 

And all ye men of tender heart,
forgiving others, take your part,
O sing ye! Alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
praise God and on Him cast your care!
O praise Him, O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! 

Let all things their Creator bless
and worship Him in humbleness,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and praise the Spirit, Three in One:
O praise Him, O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Focus On Listening.

A contemporary version of the ancient hymn 
"All Creatures of Our God and King"
Prayers of the Saints Live sung by Sovereign Grace Music