The First Book I Read This Year

On the one hand, I hesitate to even classify this as a book I read this year, the reason being that it's really more of a picture book featuring the incredible paintings of a Dutch artist, Rien Poortvliet.  His talent is off the charts, not just in the quality of each painting, but in the abundance of them!  How did he do it?

On the other hand, it IS a book, and I DID read it, so I am going to begin my official 2021 reading record with this one after all.  :)

I've already mentioned the magnificence of the art, but the text, limited as it is, packs a powerful punch as well.  While reading it, I felt my spirit soar as Rien's words inspired me to STAND IN AWE of the mind-boggling creativity God displays through the nearly-infinite variety in the physical creation--specifically, through animals.  Who could have come up with such marvelous wonders?  Only a marvelous God.  It truly defies comprehension.

What's more, Rien pointed out that, during their year together on the ark, Noah may have really enjoyed his time with the animals.  He may have studied them, gotten to know them, marveled at them, and even--as Rien made clear through one particularly poignant illustration--missed them when they left the ark and went off to repopulate the earth.  I hadn't ever thought of that before--my imagination having been limited to the level of "wow, it must have stunk on the ark; I'm sure Noah couldn't wait to get off it," rather than being lifted to the "what delight Noah must have felt when God brought elephants and chipmunks and giraffes and kangaroos and otters and tigers to the ark!" level of thinking.

Rien mentions towards the end of the book that his intention was to write a heartfelt hymn of praise, and I believe he succeeded beyond his imagining!  I can't think that someone could read this book, carefully ponder the thoughts he expresses, enjoy the pleasure of looking at his multitude of paintings contained therein, and NOT feel his or her soul soar.

Surely, the heavens...and the earth...and the zebras...and the wild boars...and the field mice...and the hands of the artist...proclaim the glory of God and the utter impossibility of all of this happening by chance!  As Albert Einstein said (as quoted in the book), "The idea that this universe in all its million-fold order and precision is the result of blind chance is as credible as the idea that if a printshop blew up all the type would fall down again in the finished and faultless form of the dictionary."  How ridiculous!!

This wasn't perhaps an impressive (from a literary standpoint) book with which to start my 2021 list, but as it turns out, it was the perfect way to begin!