This is My Father’s World

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Revelation 4:11

The world outside never seemed to stop turning, but here, by the lake, the world felt still. Maltbie Babcock moved slowly along the path, breathing in the scent of pine and earth.

He glanced out over the water and thought of the people he had passed in town earlier. Their faces, lined with worry and fatigue, spoke of burdens they could not lay down. In the whirlwind of a rapidly changing society, many were asking what the future held.

The world beyond the lake seemed so complicated, so fractured. Yet here, by the water’s edge, he saw a different truth. Creation was telling another story.

A heron took flight across the shimmering surface, its wings spread wide in perfect, effortless grace. Wildflowers burst with color as leaves rustled gently in the trees. Each detail whispered of a love that wasn’t hurried or uncertain but constant and intentional.

Maltbie slowed his pace. His breathing steadied as he let the scene before him speak. “This is God’s world,” he thought. “Even with its aches and uncertainties, it still belongs to Him!”

He paused to sit on a rock by the shore, pen in hand, and began to write a hymn:

This is my Father’s world: 
I rest me in the thought 
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas— 
His hand the wonders wrought. 

And it is still His world, even now. Perhaps today, when you step outside and feel the breeze against your skin or watch the sun set on the horizon, you can be reminded of the same truth. God’s love is woven into every corner of His creation, and His love reaches deeper than any worry.