Reading: Psalm 104:10-18

Heavenly Father,
you created such a wonderful world!
I marvel at your handiwork.
I thank you for the great variety of lifeforms on this planet—
the plants, the birds, the animals.
Lord of all creation,
help us appreciate and safeguard your creation.
Amen.

— — —

And God said,
“Let the water teem with living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth
across the vault of the sky.”
So God created the great creatures of the sea
and every living thing with which the water teems
and that moves about in it,
according to their kinds,
and every winged bird according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good.
God blessed them and said,
“Be fruitful and increase in number
and fill the water in the seas,
and let the birds increase on the earth.”
And there was evening,
and there was morning—the fifth day.

And God said,
“Let the land produce living creatures
according to their kinds:
the livestock,
the creatures that move along the ground,
and the wild animals,
each according to its kind.”
And it was so.
God made the wild animals according to their kinds,
the livestock according to their kinds,
and all the creatures that move along the ground
according to their kinds.
And God saw that it was good.
(Genesis 1:20-25 NIV)*