Everywhere I look...

'Take a good look at God's wonders--they'll take your breath away.' ~ Psalm 66:5 MSG

So often I get carried away and detained from doing my daily tasks as I look around me and see the simple wonders of nature. Whether it be a floating cloud, leaves rustling in the wind, watching the birds visiting my feeder, being mesmerized by the gently floating snowflakes dancing outside my window pane or delighting in a flower's unique beauty or the striking colors of the sunset as it radiates on dusk's horizon. As it is usually very nearby, I pull out my camera and I try my best to capture the gift before me. I don't consider myself a photographer by any means, but in these moments I cannot stop myself from taking picture after picture of all that my eye beholds. On many a sleepless night, I find myself going to the comfort found in His Holy Word. Next to it lays a photo album with my favorite shots. What He has promised me in His Word and painted in His creation slowly but surely soothe this tossing soul. Praise and prayer join in the early morning worship as the darkness is illuminated and once again I am reminded I have been given so much. Often I am compelled to pick up that unique looking stone, shell, twig or pebble and keep it to myself so that I can see it every day and be reminded of God's gift of creation on those days when nothing looks so inviting. Or, I'll be taking out our husky, Lila, one last time before bedtime and my gaze is automatically pulled upwards. And there they are on a clear night, those beautiful diamonds shining and piercing through the darkness. In that instant, I think of God speaking to Job and asking, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" (Job 38:21) And with the Psalmist I ask, "what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:4)....

Father God, I thank you for the beauty of creation You have so magnificently bestowed upon us. I ask that You continually open the eyes of my spirit to see and appreciate these tangible reminders of Your great and inexplicable love for me. And in all their majestic grandeur, may I always give praise not to the creation, but to the Creator who had me in mind when He spoke them into being. To You, oh my God, be the glory and praise and power forever and ever. Amen.