LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY > GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK – USA > Grand Tetons Wildflowers Garden 1 (South Fork, Grand Teton National Park)
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This panorama photograph of Grand Teton’s wildflowers was taken within South Fork Camping Zone one beautiful summer evening. Innumerable wildflowers of every color, shape and kind blanketed the loose, gravel soil, turning it into a paradise on earth.
Grand Teton National Park is located in northwestern USA just 10 miles (16 km) south of Yellowstone National Park. The jagged peaks of the Teton Range rise dramatically out of the Great Plains to an altitude of 13,800′ (4200m). Grand Teton’s pristinely preserved wilderness features valleys covered with Columbine and Indian Paintbrush wildflowers, raging mountain rivers and rugged, snow-covered peaks. The park is home to many different kinds of animals including grizzly bears, elk, moose and marmots. Due to its stunning beauty, Grand Teton National Park is one of America’s most popular national parks.
Photographer’s Reflection:
“…God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins…There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” (1 John 4:8-10,18)
I had a strong sense that the Lord led me up the South Fork in Grand Teton National Park for a specific spiritual purpose, which was unknown to me until I got there.
It had been a particularly difficult journey for me that tested my faith, but God had given me the grace to get this far.
That evening, as I explored my surroundings, I discovered a gigantic scree meadow filled with every kind of alpine flower in every color of the rainbow over every last inch, and they were all in peak full bloom. Insofar as this mortal, dying earth could ever come, this was paradise!
The instant my eyes beheld this heavenly sight, I had a flash of spiritual revelation:
Through the Holy Spirit, I could perceive God’s loving heart for all mankind and his desire to be in a loving relationship with us forever.
It was as if I was gazing beyond this natural ‘garden’ and was seeing the spiritual reality beyond itself, to which this natural garden was pointing.
It was as if I was looking at the Garden of Eden and at the new earth, which God will recreate as a dwelling place for those who believe in him, so that they will be with him for ever (Revelation 21:1-5, Revelation 21-22).
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'” (Revelation 21:1, 3-5)
The Lord began his loving relationship with his people in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1-2). He created them to be with him and to enjoy a loving relationship with him throughout eternity.
Love was his purpose in creating us, and love is still his purpose in pursuing a relationship with each one of us now.
The sad reality is that, just like Adam and Eve, we have all chosen to sin against God (Romans 3:23). Our sin alienates us from God, and God declares that the just punishment for our rebellion against God is death and hell (Romans 6:23).
However:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son [Jesus], that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)
Despite our rebellion against God, he still loves us and desires to have a close, personal relationship with us. Therefore, God provided the way for us to be reconciled back to him.
God sent his Son, Jesus, to live the perfect, sinless life that none of us could live. Then, he took all of our sins upon himself and paid the punishment for them through his death on the cross. He rose from the dead three days later making reconciliation possible with God.
“God made him who had no sin [Jesus] to be sin [a sin offering] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
In order to be forgiven so that you can enter into a loving, personal relationship with him you must first:
1) Repent of your sins (confess and turn away from them). God assures us that he will forgive us when we confess our sins, no matter how many we have committed or how bad they are.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)
2) Trust in Jesus and receive him as your personal Savior. Believe that he died to pay the punishment for YOUR sins through his death on the cross.
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12)
See “Message”.
I just couldn’t stop photographing these flowers. I tip toed ever so carefully around all of them so that I would not harm a single one. In looking at the delicate, abundant beauty of all these flowers God created, I cannot help but think of the brilliant worship song by Henry J. van Dyke:
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee,
Opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day!
“God is love.” (1 John 4:16)
When we truly come into his presence, there are often two primary things we will sense: God’s holiness and God’s love.
God’s holiness reveals our sinfulness and our need for repentance, and it leads us to the only One who can save us from our sins: Jesus Christ.
The other thing we will sense in God’s presence is his overwhelming love. Even as he reveals our true selves to us, that we are sinners, we still know that we are loved by him. It is his love that gives us the courage to come to him and to confess our sins because we know that we will be forgiven and accepted by God.
As we trust in Jesus to be our Savior, our hearts open ever more fully to him in love and worship throughout our lives, just as this song aptly describes.
Whenever I look at the photos of these flowers, this is what I am reminded of, even though they barely do any justice to their true beauty and abundance.
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee,
Opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day!
All Thy works with joy surround Thee,
Earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee,
Center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
Flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain
Call us to rejoice in Thee.
Thou art giving and forgiving,
Ever blessing, ever blest,
Wellspring of the joy of living,
Ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother,
All who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other,
Lift us to the joy divine.
Mortals, join the happy chorus,
Which the morning stars began;
Father love is reigning o’er us,
Brother love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward,
Victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music leads us Sunward
In the triumph song of life.