Are your Boundaries in tact?

Boundaries? Am I a landed property that I need to put a fence around it and safeguarded it? May be, maybe not. What are these boundaries? In what way are they necessary to us and also useful to us? How does it affect us in case we don’t have any? These are the questions I will be looking at in this blog.

Just as a physical property, a piece of land or a building needs to be fenced by physical boundaries so as to claim one’s ownership over that, in real life of dealing with people, each one of us need to draw a boundary around our ‘self,’ beyond which we wouldn’t like to be pushed by others. It is our boundary, and we need to safe guard it from anybody else trespassing into it. Such a boundary would define ‘me.’

A boundary will define a person’s responsibility and indicates where it begins and ends. So also with the others. Others will have their own boundaries and we are not to trespass it. We need to allow everyone to have their own space and responsibilities. But of course boundaries have gates, which could be opened when we would like to allow others to come in and shut when we don’t want to. Not having a boundary would mean we are letting any and every body to step on our personality and make a mess of our lives.

Many times we feel that we have to comply with a request of a friend or a neighbor, just out of fear that if we don’t oblige, the friend may leave. So we give in reluctantly under compulsion or pressure and feel inside cheated and made use of. This naturally leads to resentment and anger within.

We do not want to offend a person, so we keep quiet and do not contradict that person’s statement, even if it is wrong or offending. Many a times, we say ‘yes’ when in our hearts we want to say ‘no,’ and get into unnecessary problems. These are all boundary-less behaviors.

In relationships, especially between parents and children, and between spouses or friends, people put up with abusive situations, again and again, because of their inability to draw proper boundaries around them and not let the other cross it to offend them. They let themselves open to manipulations by the others, and even oppression.  

Our minds, thoughts, talents, decisions are all ours. We need to exercise ownership over them and function with responsibility. We need to be in control or in charge of them. When we give the control to another person, could be a parent, or a friend to decide things for us, then we have handed over our life to the other person and we become a slave of that person, whoever exercises control over us. We need to take responsibility to our lives.

A person without boundaries will let another person walk all over them and then resent it. Such a person doesn’t seem to have any tastes or preferences of his/her own. While going to a restraint, such a person will settle for whatever the others want to eat, or while going to a movie, agree to see any movie the friends want to go, just to get along! Sounds familiar? These are all boundary-less behaviors.

The root cause of these may be a fear of hurting the other person’s feelings, fear of abandonment and separateness, wanting to be totally dependent on another, a lazy way out, not exercising one’s options, etc.

These would have been formed early in life, when as a small child, it tries to please the mother or the father or any primary care-giver. When the child gets the lesson, ‘when I am good I am loved; when I am bad I am cut off,’ then the child grows up fearing such emotional blackmail.

 When parents provide a consistent, warm and loving emotional environment to their children while young, the children learn to speak their minds. When children are ‘brain-washed’ to fit the child in the mold that parents want them to be, then the children’s boundaries are messed up and they suffer in adulthood.

When the mother sulks or withdraws her love in response to disobedience from the child, the child learns not to offend the mother in that way and learns to acquiesce. On the contrary there are people who control others. They could be aggressive and run over other people’s fences. Or they could be manipulative and persuade other people to step out of their boundaries and comply with their wishes. In either way the controller is trying to get what he/she wants or make the other person to carry their burden.

Surprisingly the compliant person, who is so soft and good and not able to say ‘no’ to another, usually attracts a controller, who would take optimal advantage of this sort of goody, goody behavior to push his/her agenda! It is like a choleric personality attracting phlegmatic personality! They fit in like a zig-zag puzzle! The choleric person is all organized and willing to help out and the phlegmatic is all admiration for the orderly life of the choleric and takes in the help gladly. But does it work in the long run? Unfortunately, no.

The autonomy and the individuality of a person must be allowed to be expressed as a child so that it can grow into a healthy adult. In India, unfortunately the interests of an individual are sacrificed at the altar of family and community and particularly the caste. Children live for their parents and parents live for their caste and community. It is counted as the duty of the child. Most of the children, brought up in this manner, knowingly or unknowingly live in the mediocre rut of raising a family, looking after the parents and relatives, with no escape or no higher goal in life. Achievements of an individual are not valued, but family traditions are.

Isn’t it the duty of the parents to educate their children and provide for their clothing and food according to their ability? Should the child be held responsible to do what the parents want him/her to do as a return to this love that parents showered on them when they were young and dependent on their parents? A love that seeks a return in this manner, is that a true love?  Isn’t it like seeking a return on a business investment? Simply a business transaction?

People need to be free to pursue their lives, their dreams, their goals. Be free and be liberated and achieve what they can, according to their inborn God-given abilities. They must learn to tell ‘no’ and set limits to how far they will allow others to come into their lives. We need to respect our own boundaries and learn to respect others’ boundaries too.

The Scripture says, ‘love your neighbor as thyself,’ and not ‘love thy neighbor above thyself.’ Love of self is healthy and not to be confused with self-love which is selfish and concentrated on self alone. When we have a healthy love for ourselves, we will keep our boundaries intact and protect them from abuse and manipulation by others. We will also respect others’ boundaries.[1]

Post Script:  

Dear Friends, I am going underground for two months! I might occasionally resurface and write a blog or two. So do bear with me. From October onward I will be regularly writing, every Monday, as usual.

All the very best till we meet again.

God bless you and keep you.

Shanthi.

    

---

[1] For more information, please read “Boundaries: When to say yes, how to say no, to take control of your life,” by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, Zondervan, 1992. 

Depression: Nature’s Emotional Kickback?

Depression could affect anyone, Christian, whether nominal or born-again, non-Christian, whether Muslim or Hindu, the guilt-ridden criminal and so on. It is ‘a vague, all-inclusive umbrella of systematic self-accusation, general overall feeling of anxiety and condemnation which cannot be pinpointed’.[1]

It is a feeling of severe despondency and dejection. The affected persons feel very sad, hopeless and unimportant. They lose all interest in activities which were once interesting and enjoyable. If the situation continues for more than two weeks unabated, it is time to consult professional Doctor or a psychiatrist.

A depressed person might have experienced a deep loss, or hurt, like death or divorce or a failure in an important examination. It could be a break up in a relationship, boyfriend or girlfriend. Depression can set in when a person is not able to decide on a matter, and they feel trapped and powerless to get out of their situation.

Also it could be due to anger frozen inside a person, in the form of an unresolved, repressed or improperly expressed anger, towards a parent or any other person, gnawing from within. It could be because of anger due to perception of some deep sense of injustice and unfairness affecting his/her person or community or society.

Negative thoughts assail their minds and they are very vulnerable. Suicidal tendencies will run high in such persons, and it is always wise to take seriously the threats of such people that they will commit suicide.  

A person’s temperament plays a major role in that people who are over-sensitive and extremely introspective often get affected by this malady, for example a melancholic person is more vulnerable to such attacks. The temperament which we receive at birth is not changeable, but can definitely be surrendered to God, who will bring it under His control and guide it in the right path.

A depressed person is not only week in his mental makeup but physically also. Their energy level is low and they are low in protein. It is necessary to feed them for a few days on a high-protein diet.  

Correcting the injustice in the world and unfairness in society is finally the business of God and we need to keep out of it. Such persons also need to forgive whoever harmed them emotionally or otherwise and let go of those hurts. It is God’s business to seek vengeance. He will do it at the right time. In the mean while for our own-sake, it is better to forgive those who harmed us. It is like a catharsis, bringing healing in its wake.

A person under depression should not be allowed to remain alone. Isolation and alienation will push them further into depression. Depression is also a cry for help from the others, that they are not able to manage and they need other’s help. Such help needs to be extended. When they share their fears and guilt with family, friends and supportive social networks, they will feel better.

Daily physical exercise is a great medicine in such cases. Such people must try and keep themselves fully occupied, even if it is a mundane house chore like cleaning the refrigerator. The family of the person under depression needs to be very supportive and watch the person keenly for any symptoms of suicidal tendencies and other such self-hurting moves. Never leave that person alone for long.

Love of God, our Maker is a soothing balm at such times. We need to remember that God loves us not because we are clever with our brains and hands or because of our feelings or our performance. He loves us because His very nature is love. ‘He loved us before we loved Him.’

It is good to resort to singing when one is down and out, singing songs of praise and worship. Paul and Silas were in the jail but were singing Psalms of praise and worship, when an earthquake shook the prison and their chains broke and they were let loose!

David King of Israel, was a melancholic person, subject to bouts of depression, but he sang psalms giving up his desires and agony and despair to God, depending on Him to get him out of depression. When a person under depression reads these poems aloud, it works like medicine to the affected mind.

And we are not alone in whatever we go through. Jesus Christ is always with us, walking with us and waiting for us to take help from him/her. It is better that a depressed person relies heavily on Christ and His love for him/her. The Holy Spirit, our Helper and Counselor and Comforter will abide with us and hold us in His hands safe until we feel the touch. ‘He will never leave you nor forsake you.’  

---

[1] David A. Seamands, “Healing for Damaged Emotions,” David C. Cook, USA, 1981, p.114.

Perfectionism: Is it a malady?

Can we call the desire to be perfect a malady? Hasn’t Jesus Christ himself asked us to be perfect as His Father in heaven is perfect? “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48. What type of perfectionism did he mean? Is there a difference between Christian perfection and perfectionism?

The context in which Jesus asked his disciples to be perfect was God’s impartial love. Jesus was exhorting people to love not just their friends but also their enemies, those who hurt and persecute, and pray for them. Doesn’t God show kindness and love to all without any partiality, in that He allows rain to fall on the good and the bad?

Jesus is asking us to emulate God and love everyone. Of course we as human beings could never be perfect on this side of the heaven. We can only strive towards it and with a lot of grace from God, we may even come close to it.

If this is Christian perfection, then what is this perfectionism that is treated as a malady in terms of psychology?

A perfectionist is one who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection. Psychology treats perfectionism as a personality trait, where a person is striving to be flawless and setting excessively high performance standards for himself/herself. They are highly critical of themselves and their achievements.

In a positive form it is good as it leads to great achievements, but in maladaptive form, it becomes neurotic and drives people to set unattainable goals, and then when they cannot achieve it, they fall into depression. They measure their self-worth by their productivity and accomplishments.

This sort of perfectionism becomes a counterfeit for Christian perfection, according to Seamands, who deals with this subject in his book, “Healing for Damaged Emotions.”

So what are the symptoms of this malady?

First is the tyranny of the ‘oughts,’ the insistent feeling that “I ought to have done better.” “I could have done better.” Secondly showing self-depreciation, which emerges from a low self-esteem. One feels never quite satisfied with oneself and ones’ achievements. It is never adequate to satisfy your demanding father or mother or God, for that matter!

Thirdly these lead to anxiety, of not having achieved, not pleased or not measured up to the standards set for oneself. Such a person is always under a cloud of heaviness of underachievement and guilt over it, leading to self-condemnation.

Fourth, such a person is very sensitive to what others might think of him/her. Since he is not able to accept himself or feel acceptance from God, he needs constant approval from other people, be it parents or friends or even acquaintances. They try even harder to please others! They can be greatly swayed by other’s opinions.

Next, from deep within they develop anger, a resentment against the struggles they have to go through to achieve this perfection, against the people who in their imagination demand such perfectionism and even against God, who looks like a demanding heavenly Father, a God who is never satisfied!

When the strain becomes too heavy the person just breaks down, mentally and emotionally.

The root causes mainly are the earthly parents and the early childhood experiences. When parents drive their children to achieve greater and greater grades, and never show appreciation of the marks/grades obtained, but keep saying, ‘if you had worked a bit more, you could have done better,’ this rings in the ears not just their childhood but all through their lives.  

Unpleasant parents and conditional love go to produce unreachable goals and unattainable standards against which they struggle throughout their lives. Children who are not treated well and appreciated become docile, eager to please and often ‘doormats’ in their adult life.

The main message such parents pass on to the child is, ‘I am not accepted as I am,’ and that ‘I have to try very hard to get approval.’ This becomes a pattern. The child develops deep anxiety, feeling of insecurity, unworthiness and undesirableness. Even the differential treatment of a girl child, who is treated as if she is inferior to the boys, could end up leading her to prove her superiority by being a perfectionist.  

What then is the remedy?

We need renewal of mind by the special healing power of the Holy Spirit. God has not given us conditional love, but showered on us unmerited grace and unconditional love. In His eyes we are already righteous, having adorned us with the righteousness of His son, which we receive through faith in Jesus Christ.

We do not really have to strive hard to prove ourselves to Him. He knows our mold, He knows we are clay, fragile and fallen. Our parents and us, we are all fallen and go through this world with baggage of our own. So He took our frailties on the cross and paid the price with His life, so that we can go scot free. We don’t have to do anything, except to believe in Him and accept what He did on the cross for us.

He is our Wounded Healer, as Seamans beautifully puts it across. He is able to heal us, restore us and even make something beautiful out of us. Let’s trust in him and surrender ourselves to Him, forgiving whoever caused such harm to us, whether in childhood or as adults, so we can become channels of blessings to others who are suffering, whom God can minister through us.

We can comfort others with the comfort with which we ourselves were comforted by God,

“who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Cor.1:4

Care of the Dying: What does it involve?

I landed at the Palliative Care Unit of Bangalore Baptist Hospital (BBH) early today morning with a lot of apprehension in my heart. I was to write a report on the counselling care offered to people under care of a hospice or hospital as a part of my assignment for the Counselling course I had just completed. Having learnt that BBH is one of the very few units offering such services, I took the necessary permissions and went over there.

The Urban Palliative Care Team consisting of a Doctor, two nurses and a chaplain, warmly welcomed me and off we went riding the vehicle donated by some grateful relative of a patient. The sweet little Doctor opened her small little tiffin box and started to eat her breakfast! The Pastor tried to mix philosophy with a lot of humor and I got used to the team.

The doctor tried to enlighten me with the history of Palliative care in Bangalore and the world in general and gave me a gentle introduction to the first patient we were about to visit. We climbed the stairs to visit the first patient. By the way, all the patients under palliative care are those who have received their death sentences, most of them being cancer patients, and are in various stages of progression of the disease.

The first patient was a woman of 42 years old, Kamala (all the patients’ names have been changed to keep up confidentiality) mother of two grown up children. She was sitting on her bed placed in the sitting room and looked remarkably well, cheerful, smart with a bright face and a nice smile and sparkling eyes. Is this the patient? I couldn’t believe.

Oh, yes, but a cheerful patient, who said her only prayer is she should be able to be in good health and cheer till the last moment. However, she admitted that her hope and enthusiasm vanished like a punctured balloon, when she felt the discomfort of her rectal cancer. Her clothes get dirty and smelly and her family members are washing it. She felt bad about it.

Her son has chosen to work from home to keep an eye on the mother. Her own mother comes over every day in the mornings to make keep her company and to make juices and other such liquid diets for her ailing daughter to be given once in two hours.

The palliative care unit went about their work in a very organized manner. The doctor checked the patient, checked the medicines she was taking, prescribed certain modifications and looked into the records. One nurse moved in and checked the blood pressure (BP); and having personally witnessed the son shouting at the mother while on conversation with the nurse on telephone when she was in the Unit, she went aside to talk softly to the son. The other nurse recorded things on the format.

Once the medical team finished with whatever they wanted to see, do or talk, then moved in the pastor. Kamala being a Hindu, the pastor asked permission from her and her family members present there to pray for her. They gladly agreed and the pastor prayed a sincere prayer for her well-being and health till the end. Then with good byes we all left, not before tasting the lovely coffee they offered to all of us!

I felt quite relieved; no great traumas as I had expected. This is going to be a cake-walk. A cheerful patient wanting only to be kept in such cheerful state till the end! Once in the vehicle, pastor and the doctor slowly brought it to light it was not all that cheerful. The lady obviously put up a show with tremendous effort to show a cheerful demeanor for her visitors. Now it was my turn to feel like a punctured balloon!

Next was an elderly gentleman, George, in his early sixties, again lying in his cot placed in the hall/sitting room of a nicely furnished home. The man was morose, dull and was obviously in pain over his abdominal cancer. There was no smile on his face, but a dull pain. The doctor-cum-nurse team quickly moved in and did all the routine check-up and discussion with the family members, the daughter and her husband.

The pastor moved in next; the others excepting me and one nurse went outside to talk to the family and the pastor had the man all to himself. Amazing, he sat next to the patient, took the patient’s hand in his hand, pressed it to his own chest, looked deeply into the eyes of the dying man, and conversed with him, ever so softly and gently. When asked later what really transpired, the pastor said, he had to do what he did, because of the question George had asked him.

George had asked the pastor, ‘so how much time do I have?’ The pastor almost asked him how much time he would want and went on to talk to him about the statement of the Apostle Paul, when he was awaiting his trial under the Roman authorities. He had said, ‘to live means to live in Christ and to die means to be with Christ.’ So either way, he was happy, because living or dead he would be with Christ.

The Pastor talked in his soft voice for quite some time to the patient, occasionally caressing his head, telling him in his faith, George has Christ living in him and if and when he dies, he need not worry because he will still be with Christ. He passed on to George that gentle assurance and faith that he seemed to lack. After what looked like eternity itself, pastor prayed with his hands still holding George’s and infused that assurance to him.

When he got up, George was smiling and seemed to have imbibed the peace and acceptance that he was struggling with thus far. I was amazed at the transformation of the man with the sincerity and the time spent by the pastor at his side. Wow! Miracle-workers, the medical team and the pastor! My heart went out to them.

Once in the vehicle pastor began to narrate how his wife always quarrels with him saying he has time for all the others but never for her! Everyone laughed and joked about this and the tension eased considerably. Next stop came.

This was a nice house, but construction of upstairs was going on and the place was a little messy. Here also the lady, Rajamma, mother of two sons and a daughter was lying in pain in her bed in the hall/sitting room. A curtain separated her bed and gave her a little privacy.

One look at the patient and I could tell this was a bad case. She was 60 plus, but emaciated, terribly weak, skins and bones, in the final stages of abdominal cancer. Her stomach has been sealed off in an operation and she was being fed with a tube. The Doctor and nurses attended to her, the woman groaned in pain and was not even able to talk; she just showed up some signs with her thin hands.

The doctor called in the family members, the daughter, one brother and the two daughters-in-laws who were all there and told them the bad news: their mother does not have many days left; it could be any time now. So try and keep her in comfort, give her the pain killers and keep her without pain and suffering; that is all we can do now. Be strong now and brace yourselves, her time is up.

The daughter started to weep; one of the nurses came running to tell the doctor that Rajamma was not responding; we all ran to the next room, she had the glazed look on her face, but revived in a few minutes, but was restless. Pastor loudly asked everyone, as if in a hurry, can he pray for her? They all said yes, please do. He sat next to her and prayed for her and when he finished she was motionless. I thought she had died in the pastor’s arms as he prayed.

A gentle heaving of her body told she was still alive and breathing. We left after comforting the family members. For once, we were all silent in the vehicle, for we had the premonition that she might die by the end of the day, if not earlier.

Oh, what a day! The team was still to go on and visit a few more patients, but I bid goodbye and hurried back to my place in an Ola taxi cab. I had had enough. My mind went back to the dying person and her family members.  What a tragedy and what a trauma! The human frailty in the face of the tragedy! 

Yet, Jesus overcame death, He was resurrected on the third day and ascended into heaven. This gives us, whoever believes in Christ, the assurance and the hope that we also will arise on the last day alive and in a glorified body and we will live for ever with Christ Himself. What a wonderful and glorious hope to live and die for.

Our sufferings and death on this earth are not without meaning or purpose. Terminally ill people, in spite of the long drawn suffering have time to think, reflect, accept the inevitable and put their trust in God. This is denied to those who suddenly die in an accident or heart attack. So the Bible says be ready always, we never know when our time to face our Maker will come. We need to give account.

Hats off to the Palliative care team! Imagine facing such human frailties five days a week, 6-7 cases a day! How do they cope up with this? Where do they go to find strength for all these? In a little humor and self-deprecation?

The doctor said, after a day’s work of visiting such patients, they all sit in the office room of the unit, discuss it all among themselves, pray and leave it all there itself and go home, so that they do not carry these to their homes and families. Formidable task!

My prayers go for them. They could find strength to do what they do day after day only in Christ in prayer. These are the people who do real service to the dying in their time of need and offer hope and courage for them to face even death with equanimity. True service to humanity, they offer.

God bless them and their families and their patients and their families.

 

Bird watching from my house in Bangalore!

Bangalore is becoming its usual self again. It is July and the monsoon rains are as per schedule, thanks to the absence of El Nino phenomenon. This summer was unbearable with temperatures climbing to 39.2 degree Celsius in April and May also was unusually hot. 

In the 1940s and 50s Bangalore was known as Pensioner’s paradise. Then by the 1980s it became the IT (Information Technology) capitol of India. What with people coming from not just all over India but from abroad also! With the result flats, cars, international schools, population, supporting services around IT industry and so on and so forth multiplied and almost changed the face of Bangalore.

It was no longer the peaceful and quiet place with mist hanging around on almost nine months of the year, an air-conditioned city, with salubrious weather conditions all around the year. Ironically this weather was what attracted IT company and its paraphernalia to the place! It also killed Bangalore’s charm.

                                                                               

Having said that, I must also ruminate that Bangalore has not completely lost its charm! It may never revert back to being a pensioner’s paradise, but won’t become a burning oven either. It still boasts of a mild weather and especially this year with good rains, the famous drizzle of Bangalore has returned.

   

                                                                  Green wall on my terrace, Ahoka Polyalthia

It is very nice to get up each morning with a smile on your face and a song on your lips, listening to the early morning twitter of the birds around the house in our colony. This colony is mercifully tucked away from the main Hundred feet road and is an oasis within the traffic chaos of the area. The place is full of garden plants with flowers and fruits that it is also a favorite haunt of many different species of birds.

                        

Garden around my house

 There are many Bird-watching groups in Bangalore who assemble at Lal Bagh garden or places like that and go on trek to enjoy bird-watching. But I sit in my house and watch birds! At least 25 species of birds come and flop around my house and garden. When birds come to see you in your place where is the need to go in search of these in the wilderness?

My garden abounds with Crow-pheasant or Coucal, walking sometimes on the compound wall; Asian Koel, with its pink eyes and beautiful call announcing the monsoon, pecking at the papaya fruits in the garden; the pearly female koel is a beauty to behold. Not to mention the crows and the rock pigeons and the mynas.

 Koel feasting on papaya fruit

Shaggy Green Barbet on Ashoka Polyalthia tree

Green Barbets nest there and bring up their chicks! They flit from tree to tree with their loud calls in the season. The beautiful sing song call of red cheeked Bulbul early in the spring is not a thing to miss! They roost and teach their young to fly right under your nose!

Then there are black-naped Oriole, in pretty yellow and its kin golden Oriole in their golden yellow plumage adding  color to the garden. Spotted doves coo about. Nothing to beat the tiny sun birds, especially the maroon breasted sun bird, with metallic green and purple sheen twittering along with its mate. Then there is the purple-rumped Sun bird, with crimson and bluish purple above and green and purple and yellow below. 

Common myna and jungle myna make for a noisy neighborhood. Rose-ringed parakeet come to eat the long pods of the flowering tree in the front. Tailor birds are peculiar in that their long tail is upturned and they tweet from bush to bush in search of an insect or two. 

                                                                            Asian Paradise Flycatcher 

Nothing to beat my winter visitor, the Asian Paradise Flycatcher, who promptly returns every year to my tree by October middle and visits me twice or thrice each day through out its stay in my neighborhood. Come summer in its peak in mid April he flies away, to the cooler north, until for another season. Once I was able to see the young juvenile raised by him and his mate, so lean and swanky it was!

Asian Paradise Flycatcher on my balcony 

As if this is not enough very close to our place there is the Madivala lake where many water birds come to feast on the fish and the Cormorants and Night Herons use our colony to nest and go over to the lake to bring in the fresh fish to feed its young.  

    Cormorants in Madivala lake

White-throated King fishers and Paddy birds and the long necked Grey Herons which majestically strut their necks about are often spotted in the lake. Spot-billed Pelicans nest in the island in the middle of the lake and skillfully glide over the waters. 

Spot-billed Pelican in Madivala lake

One October I saw hundreds of them, floating gracefully in the waters of the lake, a sight truly to behold. Some times, in the early mornings they swim around the fishing coracles, to catch the unwanted fish and mollusks the men throw about. 

In the evening times, hundreds of white egrets fly around tree tops in our colony like a cloud burst, before they decide which tree to settle down. They do not select a tree to settle down and sleep so easily, but fly in crowds many times before they finally settle down and go to sleep. 

What a wonder it is this nature and its inhabitants including trees, birds and fish and even human beings! What a grand creation by God, who was able to appreciate such beauty that He created it all in His creative Spirit and for all of us to enjoy! Bible in many places says, God created the heavens and the earth and all that there is in. 

As I look around and enjoy the beauty of the nature, the trees and the birds and the lakes and the waters, my heart swells with gratitude and a song rises in my heart, 

           

              "Bless the Lord oh my soul, oh, oh my soul,

               worship His Holy name;

               sing like never before, oh my soul,

               worship His holy name, 

               worship His holy name,

               worship His holy name!"