Daily Devotional – March 6

Botany

Botanists have long been fascinated by the design of the giant Amazon water lily (Victoria amazonica) with its raised rim that surrounds floating leaves reaching eight feet in diameter. In fact, the lily’s floating leaves can easily support a full-grown adult lying on the thin leaf structure! The secret to the strength of these leaves is the well-engineered supporting veins on the underside of these floating marvels.

Before the very first World’s Fair, being held in London, England in 1851, the organizing committee announced a contest for the best and most original design for the Great Exhibition Hall. Architects and engineers from around the world sent in their designs. Yet, it was not a trained architect, but a botanist named Joseph Paxton, who won the contest. His “Crystal Palace” was to be constructed with 200,000 panes of glass, weighing an estimated one million pounds, supported by a thin iron framework. The entire building was to stand 108 feet tall and cover 18 acres. Experts declared that the foolish structure would collapse before being finished.

Paxton based the design of his building on the same design used to support the heavy leaves of the giant water lily. Not only were the experts wrong, but the beautiful glass building stood as a testimony to the genius of God’s design ability for the next 80 years before being destroyed by fire. Paxton realized that the giant water lily was well engineered; he just copied the greatest Engineer, God Himself.

Through wisdom is a house built.

~ Proverbs 24:3a

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.