We cherish our times outdoors because it helps us reframe our perspective. We just want to “get away” as it is “good for the soul.” Here is a devotion that helps us ensure that it really is good for the soul:

IN WORD Solomon’s words would have had familiar connotations for a faithful Jew. In Deuteronomy 6, a landmark chapter in Old Testament theology, God told the Israelites first to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength. Then He told them to take the words of the Law, divinely inscribed on tablets of stone, and inscribe them into the fabric of their souls.
Let them be always on your hearts, He commanded. Work them into your children’s hearts. Talk about them always. Tie them as symbols on your hands and foreheads. Never be away from them (see Deuteronomy 6:4-9). The interesting connection between Deuteronomy and Proverbs is that the Law is defined as “love and faithfulness.”
It is also interesting that Deuteronomy is specific in where our love and faithfulness are first to be directed: toward God. The foremost element of a believer’s life is not obedience, not service, and not doctrine. These are important—indispensable, in fact. But they are not the priority. Love is. A passionate, vital, all-encompassing love that reaches to the depths of our being. When that is there, the rest is easy.
IN DEED Do you consider your heart to be a tablet? What is written on it? Do you realize that some things can be erased by the power of God and others inscribed by that same power? It requires your full cooperation, but the junk that we’ve inscribed there—through all of the media and entertainment we absorb, the relationships we’ve had, the information we consume—can be rewritten. It can be replaced with love and faithfulness. In fact, it must be replaced with love and faithfulness if we are to learn the mind of our God at all. This is who He is, and He insists that we become like Him. Love and faithfulness define Him. Do they define you? Let them saturate your heart. “Put everything you have into the care of your heart, for it determines what your life amounts to.” – Dallas Willard (in “Walking with God” by Chris Tiegreen)

When you are outdoors, are you only focused on the activities – or do you take time to lift up your eyes to take in God’s Creation? Take time to reflect on Psalm 19 daily this week and use the prayer at the end to ask the Lord to reframe your perspective so it is more attuned to Him when you return to the daily routine. Have a blessed week! – from Singapore, Pastor Sam