I love summer mornings

Early this morning, before the sun peered over the mountains to the east of us, I was waiting at the bus stop to catch my ride to work. It was a gorgeous day. Traffic along Orchard Drive, never busy at this time of day, seemed lighter than normal. Perhaps people were off on summer vacations.

A jogger happened by. He was running in the street, reverting to the sidewalk only when an occasional car approached, and then he was back into the street. We exchanged good mornings.

The temperatures were pleasant, the morning quiet, and I was in a relective mood.

I thought of the words of the Lord recorded by the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament: "I have made the earth, and created man upon it" (Isaiah 45:12). It is a remarkable place God has prepared for us. And yes, there is much of ugliness and misery across the face of the earth, far too much of it in fact, but the earth itself is a remarkably diverse and interesting and beautiful home for His children.

And then this further insight from the prophet Nephi in the Book of Mormon: "Behold, the Lord hath created the earth that is should be inhabited; and he hath created his children that they should possess it" (1 Nephi 17:36).

Just earlier in the week I had read of extreme environmentalists who share the notion that the earth would be better off if humans were not around, if people did not inhabit the planet. Or others, not going quite that far, urging that humans are simply one species among all the other life forms on our little globe and that we deserve no particular status or consideration beyond the whales or snails or whatever is the cause de jour.

Now don't start plastering me with comments about the environment. I firmly believe we should be good stewards of planet earth. I believe we need to be responsible citizens of the world. We need to treat our home with respect. But I view the world from a perspective of faith, seeing "with an eye of faith," to borrow an insightful phrase used throughout the Book of Mormon (see, for example, Alma 5:15; Alma 32:40; Ether 12:19). And that perspective is that there is a God, that He created the world, that He placed His children upon it, and that it exists for them to inhabit it. That's what it's all about.

When we don't see it that way, we get it all backward and screw up our public discourse and our public policy in horrible ways that can lead to no good.

And so, I guess that's why we need summer mornings. Outside and quiet and alone. Not in our homes or cars. And not with televisions or radio or iPods blaring in our ears. We occasionally need time and circumstances to be reminded of the truth penned by the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861):

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes—
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.