The Sky is Speaking

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The Psalmist wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (19:1).

Watching my children milk the fun from the quickly fading days of summer have brought memories to my mind. I recall when I was a kid, just after dark, all the other kids in the neighborhood meeting in the middle of the street in front of our house. A ritual would determine who was “IT,” and then every other kid in the neighborhood would scatter to their hiding places, hoping not to be the first found. We lived on a steep hill in our little mountain town, with a neighbor behind us, who lived further up the steep hill. Our neighbor was a big man who didn’t seem terribly fond of kids and was known to yell at you if he caught you in his yard. If I could make it up to his yard and lie down in the grass, the only way to find me was to climb the hill in the dark and risk our neighbor’s wrath.

Few ever did.

That left me lying on my back, staring at the stars in the sky … for a long time. But that was okay. Staring into the vastness of the night sky filled me with a sense of awe.

I’ve felt the same feeling staring out at the vastness of the ocean on a clear day when you can see all the way to the horizon but know that, for thousands of miles beyond that horizon, there is nothing but ocean. I recall having that same kind of feeling when my son was born. How tiny and helpless he was, yet this perfect little boy, whom God was trusting to me. Awe.

To be in awe of the One who created everything that is awe-inspiring, everything that is awesome, makes sense. But somehow, we often miss it. We see the majesty of the stars but miss the majesty of the One who cast them into the universe. We see the vastness of oceans but miss the vast glory of the One who calls from deep to deep. We see the beauty and miracle of new life in the face of a newborn but miss the Imago Dei, that she is formed in the image of God and to the glory of God.

Let’s not be captivated by lesser glory and miss the greater glory. We won’t have to look far to see it. And we won’t have to look far to see someone with whom to share it. To God be the glory!

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