by: Norberto Betita
The alarm rings at exactly 4:15 in the morning. While the comfortable bed seemed to hold my back for added hours of sleep through the weary night, yet the call of duty rings for me to arise and do the cooking. This has been my regular daily routine together with my wife. For so long I believe there is no greater call of duty than those performed within the walls of home and family.
Soon I heard the sweet songs of tiny birds common around our backyard signaling the breaking of dawn. While waiting for the meat to cook, I complemented the time intervals with readings from the Psalms of David in the Holy Bible which was to be our lesson for the coming Sunday school of which I was requested to teach in the absence of our regular teacher.
As the light started to creep and peep by our windows and the night shadows flee, I opened the door and witnessed the morning breaks as the hill-hidden sunlight sneaked from the cloud-covered sky. Then I felt the cold breeze of the southern winds tenderly blowing the leaves of tall trees where tiny birds sing while hovering from one tree to another. The bonsai trees crowding at our backyard again glowed in beauty and splendor. My mind then brought to remembrance the words I had just studied a few minutes earlier: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handy work” (Psalm 19:1).
What gratitude I felt as I went back to my room and offered my regular morning prayer! My heart overflows with thankfulness for the knowledge of the gospel and the testimony of a personal living God who made available on earth all that is needed of mankind. The very tiny new sprouts of green grass; the bloom of wild flowers; the evergreen colors of shrubberies; the hanging aerial roots of newly grown Ficus epiphytes; the tiny flowers and fruits of the bonsai trees which feeds the little birds; the ferns, large and small that grow by their own on crevice of walls and fences, and on trunks of trees; and the tall-leaves-laden matured trees surrounding our neighborhood, make me wonder the beauty of the creation. Many of these plants and trees have grown from the works of nature, a testimony of the truth of God’s unfailing words: “For, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin; and the kingdoms of the world, in all their glory, are not arrayed like one of these. For your Father, who is in heaven, knoweth that you have need of all these things.” (D&C 84: 82-83.)
As the light started to creep and peep by our windows and the night shadows flee, I opened the door and witnessed the morning breaks as the hill-hidden sunlight sneaked from the cloud-covered sky. Then I felt the cold breeze of the southern winds tenderly blowing the leaves of tall trees where tiny birds sing while hovering from one tree to another. The bonsai trees crowding at our backyard again glowed in beauty and splendor. My mind then brought to remembrance the words I had just studied a few minutes earlier: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handy work” (Psalm 19:1).
What gratitude I felt as I went back to my room and offered my regular morning prayer! My heart overflows with thankfulness for the knowledge of the gospel and the testimony of a personal living God who made available on earth all that is needed of mankind. The very tiny new sprouts of green grass; the bloom of wild flowers; the evergreen colors of shrubberies; the hanging aerial roots of newly grown Ficus epiphytes; the tiny flowers and fruits of the bonsai trees which feeds the little birds; the ferns, large and small that grow by their own on crevice of walls and fences, and on trunks of trees; and the tall-leaves-laden matured trees surrounding our neighborhood, make me wonder the beauty of the creation. Many of these plants and trees have grown from the works of nature, a testimony of the truth of God’s unfailing words: “For, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin; and the kingdoms of the world, in all their glory, are not arrayed like one of these. For your Father, who is in heaven, knoweth that you have need of all these things.” (D&C 84: 82-83.)
As the sun rises slowly into the firmament, clouds created silver linings that decorate the azure sky. The glimmering light of day exposed the dazzling view of the horizon and the green landscapes over hills and plains. The glaring and intense heat of the noonday sun scorched and dehydrated my potted bonsai plants and trees with leaves wilted from burning temperature. Yet leaves stood back in beauty and grandeur as water is sprinkled in the late of afternoon. When the sun slowly sets its glory down the hide of the mountain range, reflections of distant skyline turns gold in color of exquisite magnificence. As the remaining golden light turns dark the new moon in the western sky lends its restrained brightness until it follows the sun in its predestined orbit and what is left are the twinkle of billions of stars in heaven’s resplendent glory. This made me marvel and admire as did the Psalmist who declared: “O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches” (Psalm 104:24).
The words of God to Moses filled my soul with awe and amazement: “…worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten.” (Moses 1:33.) “… And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations….” (Moses 7:30.)
The physical vision of the stunning beauty of the earth and the marvelous grandeur of heavenly lights, forms and figures established beyond reasonable doubts the majesty and glory of a living personal God.
The physical vision of the stunning beauty of the earth and the marvelous grandeur of heavenly lights, forms and figures established beyond reasonable doubts the majesty and glory of a living personal God.
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