There is Still Goodness Here

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All of nature, therefore, is good, since the Creator of all nature is supremely good. But nature is not supremely and immutably good as is the Creator of it. Thus, the good in created things can be diminished and augmented. For good to be diminished is evil; still, however much it is diminished, something must remain of its original nature as long as it exists at all.

Saint Augustine of Hippo

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The other day, I took a picture of a butterfly.

My brother knows I love butterflies and moths, so he’s a dear and brings me their wings whenever he finds one that has died. (For the record, I very much prefer them alive, but I still appreciate their beauty when they’re dead. I feel like this explanation gets worse the more I try to explain it, so I’ll stop now).

Because of this mutual understanding, naturally, I wanted to show him the picture of the butterfly I found. When I did he said, “hm…it is pretty, but the background is so ugly, it makes it hard to notice the butterfly.”

As I looked again I realized that he was very right. The picture was taken around a collection of sticks, twigs, and wood that had been thrown over a pile of dead leaves, dirt, and dry grass. It was a very dismal, brown, dry scene.

Butterflies look prettier when in a field of flowers.

In Flourishing Places

Have you ever seen a butterfly in a field of flowers? Or in a sweet-smelling, summer garden? Almost exactly a year ago, I went on a hike to a waterfall with some other teens and there was a lovely, white butterfly that danced about the green grass next to the water. I could have watched it flutter around for hours.

Butterflies look lovely in flourishing places like a field of flowers.

But there are not fields of flowers everywhere.

Somehow, the dry, dusty, brown of this earth has a way of sinking its fangs into the most beautiful fragments of creation and dimming their light. Midnight clouds roll in over twinkling stars, mud stains the regal white of snow as it cloaks the ground, and dry grass steals away the color of butterflies.

The dead places of this earth strip the live places of their beauty. But it was not meant to be this way.

This earth was meant to be a flourishing place.

When the wise and attentive Creator rolled back the curtains of darkness to breathe life and light into the abyss, He tenderly and intricately fashioned the creation of this earth. And it was good.

God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

– Genesis 1:9-10

It was good.

I think about that sometimes.

I rarely hear someone describe this earth as good.

We see the earth as polluted, tired, chaotic, full of anxieties. I think we tend to see what exists inside of us.

And, too often, our hearts are not a flourishing place.

All the Earth as Good

I don’t get to see my best friend very often, but, when we do see each other, we spend a lot of time taking notice of the goodness of God’s earth.

We notice it in the deep, rich lyrics of old hymns. We notice it in the sun settling over the dusts of the Sub-Sahara, the edge of dawn blurring with the birth of night. And we notice it in each other too, I think. In the way our conversations drift towards childhood dreams, adolescent heartaches, and God’s grace in between.

Sometimes, I like to think about that lasting forever, eternally, always.

About all the earth being good again.

Evil is the absence of goodness. Where evil is, goodness cannot be. Where goodness is, evil cannot be. Thus, for all the earth to be good again, all evil will have to rushed out by the abundant streams of Heaven’s ultimate Good.

For now, we live in the balance of good and evil, peace and chaos, beauty and distortion. But the essence of goodness is God and it is entirely impossible to lessen Him of even one drop of His perfect being.

Humans, butterflies, and all this earth have lost goodness because we have lost God. Not because He has left us, but because humans have left Him, and the earth, alongside the hearts of men, has suffered the consequences thereof.

Yet, even in this state of lowliness and sorrow…there is a mark of the good Creator on the fallen creation.

For [God’s] invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So [the unrighteous] are without excuse”

– Romans 1:20

Human souls still bear the image of God – though we hardly bear it rightly. Butterflies still dance to the sweet, good tune of the earth’s praise, and all the creatures of this earth still bow in memory of their Maker’s name.

There is still goodness here. Because God has not left us totally. Because human hearts are still being redeemed and restored; because the birds and butterflies and lilies have not forgotten their Creator.

Butterflies look loveliest in a field of flowers.

But taking them out of that field does not totally deprive them of their beauty.

In a similar way, though not exactly the same, goodness looks best without the ugly clash of evil and darkness and sin. But that does not make the goodness itself any less bright. It merely makes it harder to notice.

Like Dandelion Sunflowers

I have another story from an interaction with a four-year-old to tell you (shocking, I know).

One day, my little buddy, Theo, came running up to me. After giving me a big hug, he said, “I have a surprise for you! Close your eyes!”

So, of course, I closed my eyes.

Then, he yelled, “open!” And there, in his tiny hand, was a lovely, little dandelion. He grinned, “I picked it for you because sunflowers are your favorite. I know this isn’t a sunflower…but it’s yellow like one!”

I absolutely did not stop smiling for the rest of that day.

One of my favorite things about that interaction, though, is how it reminds me of God’s grace towards us. Just like Theo didn’t need to pick a dandelion for me, God doesn’t need to restore the earth or give us continued fragments of His glory in our lowly lives. He does it because He loves us.

Think of sunsets and oceans and the adorable giggles of two-year-olds. What kind of God continues to bestow good gifts on the creation that rebels against Him – Who is all goodness? What kind of God keeps showing up, knowing His presence alone can redeem what was lost?

Only our God. Only Yahweh.

And I really love Him for it.

I love that He doesn’t think to Himself, “well, they can’t have Heaven in this broken state, so they shouldn’t have any glimpses of it either.”

I love that, like Theo, He gives us dandelions as reflections of the sunflowers we can’t have right now. Because a reflection is still better than nothing at all…and it reminds us of the deep beauty of the real thing.

That’s the kindness of God. It’s like a butterfly dancing in a bouquet of dandelion sunflowers.

Basking in His Kindness

…When You open Your hand, [all creatures] are filled with good things. When You hide Your face, they are dismayed; when You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the ground. […] I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.”

– Psalm 104:28-30 & 33

This earth is temporary. It will not last forever. One day, “the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” will fully redeem and restore all that was lost (James 1:17).

But there is beauty yet. There is still goodness here.

Not because of us, but because of Him.

His image is in our hearts. His fingerprints are engraved upon this earth. The very tune of His heart is heard in the songs of creation and we would be fools to see all the brokenness we have brought about…while missing the beauty He has preserved.

I am eager for the Brighter Day when all butterflies will dance in fields of sunflowers. The day when I will be made more beautiful and whole and lovely. The day when the whole earth will kneel before Him in humble adoration.

But, until that day…I want to notice the beauty of the butterfly even when dimmed. I want to appreciate the dandelions while I wait for the sunflowers. And most earnestly, I want to see the reflections of His goodness, even when blurred by the selfish, evil stirrings of this world.

I want to bask in the kindness of God.

Because there is still goodness here.

But to see it, we must first see Him.