Let the Earth Rejoice!

I recently finished reading John Muir's book My First Summer in the Sierra which is his journal from a summer spent helping herd a flock of sheep in and around the area that is now Yosemite National Park in 1869. My first visit to Yosemite was about 6 years ago, and I had been interested in reading some of Muir's writing since then because of his important role in getting Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt to expand the park.


When I first visited the park I was very nearly overwhelmed with the extravagant beauty of the place. The enormous water falls like Yosemite Fall and Bridal Veil Fall, the imposing granite formations like Half Dome and El Capitan, and the grandeur of the sequoia groves all in close proximity give meaning to the word 'breathtaking'. For me, though, they also move me to thanksgiving to the Creator who made such places possible, and the place itself moves me to worship. That seems to have been the case with John Muir as well.


In our time when most environmentalists seem to worship nature as god, Muir praised God for creating nature. I was impressed by how very often he brings up God in this book. The book is not a long book at 159 pages in my edition, but I counted over 40 times when he brings up God in his journal. He speaks of how the beauty of the wilderness seeks to 'draw us up into God's light'; one beautiful morning he comments about 'the morning stars "still singing together and all the sons of God shouting for joy"'. He comments how the pitch on certain conifer cones are 'bringing to mind the old ceremonies of anointing with oil' and how the seeds from these cones 'fly to their predestined places'.  He speaks of how the great granite formation remind him of the Scripture "He hath builded the mountains." He makes reference to Samson's riddle, to incense offerings, and to psalms. Muir clearly was well acquainted with the Scriptures and they were also top of mind and readily recalled, not something he had written off and forgotten.


I appreciated his book because it captured much of what I also felt when at Yosemite, a feeling that this is the beauty that God both created and intended. It made me wonder what the garden of Eden may have been like in beauty and wonder as it is hard for me to even imagine a more beautiful place. The place itself seems to offer praise to God, and draws it forth from me.


Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. Finishing this book just before Easter reminded me of words from a Sandy Patty song about Easter: 'did the grass sing? did the earth rejoice to feel You again?' she sings in the song "Was it a Morning Like This?" about Christ's resurrection. Psalm 98 says 'let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy before the Lord'. I have to think that the universe itself praises God for the resurrection we celebrate at Easter. It was good to be reminded of that by Muir's little book.