I took this video coming down from Lee Canyon, Nevada. I looked on my left and noticed the stunning beauty on the sky as the sun was setting on the colorful natural canvas. I have to admit that I struggled for a while whether I should stop, get down and enjoy the sunset. There were many cars behind me that I had the pressure to keep on moving. But when my wife also got excited about it, we stoped and took time to enjoy the art on the sky change by the second.

Many things in life are limited by TIME: how long we live, how long we can rest, eat, play, study etc. We need to limit the extent of what we do because time moves only forward and we know that as it moves forward, it also narrows the scope and dimensions of our activities and ambitions. As adults, we realize that there isn't enough time to live all the dreams we had as a children. So, we live with conscious and unconscious pressure to keep up with the flow of time. In most cases, we set the fulfillment of our ultimate happiness in some distant future. How common is it to hear the expression, "Happiness comes: 'when I grow up,' 'when I graduate,' 'when I get married,' 'when I have children,' 'when I have grandchildren.' In some cases, it may even be in the next life. Yes, some don’t see any hope in this life and think that the hope for happiness is fixed in the life after death.

Since we can not stop time, what we try to do is catch up with time. So, we rush and rush! We may even feel that we are left behind or we are missing something if we slow down and get in touch with nature. You have got to pause and take time to see time pass. Then God will show you in nature that something awesome was going on while you were in oblivion. Spend TIME with nature to see Time Pass.

Spending time with nature gets us in tune with the creator. It gets us back to our factory setting. Jesus practiced this regularly. He spent a significant amount of time in nature to communion with His father. He was out in the wilderness for 40 days to fast and pray (Matthew 4:2); He went up to the mountain to pray after miraculously feeding the multitude (Matthew 14:23); He took his disciples to Mount of Transfiguration where He was met Moses and Elijah who were revealed to encourage Him (Matthew 17). Even Jesus' prayer of anguish before His crucifixion took place surrounded by nature at the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14: 32-41). Jesus loved nature. Nature calms the mind, reminds us of the existence of a much bigger Being in the universe and it triggers our need to depend on God.

Reflection: What is your experience when you come close to nature? What would have been your prayer if you were one of those disciples Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane?

Prayer Journal: What is your prayer about effectively using your time? What would you like God to remind you when you tend to get lost in the hustle and bustle of this world?