The Hidden Beauty of Creation
I recently spent a wonderful afternoon roaming around the geology section of the Natural History Museum in London. If you haven’t been to this museum, I really recommend a trip to this extraordinary venue. I particularly love the escalator which ascends to the upper floors through a sculpture of the earth, taking visitors up through the mantle and the core until you emerge on the other side of the planet among the cases of colourful rocks and minerals. I’m always ridiculously excited as I ride the escalator up through the centre of the earth, imagining a journey from our home in North Buckinghamshire through the earth’s core which would bring us out somewhere near my in-laws in Canberra, Australia.
My obsession with geology is a source of much amusement for my husband and kids. Whenever we go on holiday I wander around with pockets lined with plastic bags so that I can pick up any interesting rocks and examine them later. At home I have a carefully catalogued collection that I have built up over the years.
I first became interested in rocks and minerals when I was about 10 years old. Our local butcher ran a small but active geological society and I would attend monthly lectures on the various Eras, periods and epochs of geological time. I would also join the members (most of whom were retired) on rock hunting trips and one of the highlights of my young life was the time I found a substantial specimen of amethyst in a local quarry.
In fact, my life might have followed a very different course if a sadistic science teacher at my secondary school hadn’t scared me into focusing on the arts. I have never regret the choice I made as I have been blessed by such a wonderful life, but I do sometimes wonder where I would be now if I had gone to university to study geology instead of art.
I think what fascinates me most about geology is that it is the study of the hidden beauty of the earth. The exhibits in the Natural History Museum are so staggeringly beautiful, that the art works of the National Gallery seem to pale in comparison. For centuries artists have plundered the earth for pigments in an attempt to recreate the beauty of God’s creation but nothing quite lives up to the sheer brilliance of a diamond, the banded beauty of agate or the colour depth of minerals like aquamarine and malachite.
Whenever, I look on the extraordinary crystalline detail and brilliant colours of these hidden treasures, I feel compelled to praise Him saying.
When I consider your earth,
the work of your fingers,
the emerald, amethyst and ruby,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]
(Paraphrase of Psalm 8: 3-4).
What amazes me most is that this staggering beauty is hidden deep within the earth, created long before the advent of humans with the ability to appreciate it. Our creator’s imagination dreamt up this righteous display of textured colour millions of years before anyone was around to disturb the earth and discover these treasures. And the extraordinary care taken is evidence of God's love of even the most basic elements of his creation.
‘Consider the iridescent beauty of labradorite and chalcopyrite buried deep within the earth, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these’ (paraphrase of Matthew 6:28-29).
This is why I have such a love affair with rocks because for me the study of geology reveals not only the beauty of creation but the extraordinary mind of the Creator. And while I amuse my family by wandering the countryside gathering mineral samples, what I am really doing is praising the Lord.
Kate Nicholas is a preacher, Christian author, broadcaster and rockhound! Visit Kate’s website www.katenicholas.co.uk to find out more about her books, TV show, online courses and blog Faith, Life and Cancer.