Bermuda is a place of God-given beauty

This week I was happily busy helping my granddaughters preparing their exhibits for the Agriculture Show –– what a time of bonding, exploring, learning and fun we had.

It brought back many memories of my own childhood with my parents helping me to prepare exhibits, making the event a family tradition.

I passed it on in later years as I worked with my own children in participating in the annual exhibition.

I hope when you attend the Show this weekend, you will enjoy and see the beauty of the hard work put into the exhibits by the organizers, the staff and each and every participant.

While in search of flora and fauna to decorate Aayah’s high tea hat and Iman and Yasmeen’s school’s display on Bio-diversity, we fell upon beautiful trails bedecked with trees, plants, birds, sounds and, yes, even bugs of every size, colour and description.

There is so much gloom and doom hanging around our island today that the focus being turned to the Exhibition reminded me of how much I do love Bermuda and, despite the politics, it is a God-given place of beauty.

I wanted to put pen to paper to script the beauty of Bermuda, but I didn’t need to because just then I remembered my dear Sister-girlfriend, Valerie Leader, had already scripted an amazing rendition of her appreciation of Bermuda on one of her walks way back on October 17, 1997:

Brightness

“It was the hour of 7.00 am as I headed in an easterly direction that I noticed a special brightness already adorned the skies. The waters were so glassy that one could imagine oneself skating across as if on ice. The colour was of a deep green and the shadows of the existing pastel homes were reflected on the water. The mirrored homes only highlighted the untouched natural beauty of God’s good work.

“At times, I looked behind me only to see the shadowed moon as it hung in the western sky waiting for its turn to slip away below the horizon in God’s time, but it was no match for the ball of fire, which was about to brighten the Earth and everyone’s day. Sadly, so many passers-by did not seem to notice such beauty as I am sure, had they been as touched as I was, they would have had smiles on their faces as they proceeded to their destination.

As I continued to walk, listening to my ‘Preacher’s Wife’ CD by Whitney Houston, the words of the Gospel were so fitting that it entranced me even more into the atmosphere of one of the most precious days of our lives.

“There were few clouds in the eastern sky, but one could see the lining of the sun’s rays reflected on their tips, just like a silver lining. 

“As the sun made its debut on this beautiful day, the walk finished at the entrance of the Base gate and I turned back to go about my daily business.

“There it struck me, Mother Nature at her best and another Father’s Day. The sky was filled with pastel colours; beneath the moon was an array of pastel pinks, blues and greys, touched with a softness of seeming lilac.

“I thanked God so much, for I was blessed to see this indescribable beauty.  When I made it back to my vehicle, I looked back in an eastern direction. Lo and behold, Mr Sun was just peeping above the clouds giving off such a fire of glory that it was blinding to normal sight. Oh God! If only the blind could see. And then just to complete this breathless sight of such beauty, there was Mr Rainbow on the northern horizon hitting the water as if there were a pot of gold at the end.

“So God, as I ended my morning walk, I was thankful that You showed me as You always show me … There is a God.”

How wonderful Allah the Creator is. How generous is He! All of us equally get the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of His universe. The Noble Quran tells us in the following ayats:

“Verily! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, and the ships which sail through the sea with that which is of use to mankind, and the water (rain) which Allah sends down from the sky and makes the earth alive therewith after its death, and the moving (living) creatures of all kinds that He has scattered therein, and in the veering of winds and clouds which are held between the sky and the earth, are indeed Ayat (proofs, evidence, signs, etc.) for people of understanding.” (2:164).