Bask in the Majesty

Aesop's fable The Fox and the Lion portrays a fox who, over the course of several encounters, loses his fear of a lion.  The message of the fable is simple: familiarity breeds contempt.  The struggle to not take things for granted is one to which every person is subject.  At times this struggle may even spill over into the arena of the created world around us.  As we go through the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, it is easy for the majesty of the world around us to fade into the background, but as the beauty around us blurs I wonder if our understanding of God suffers as well.

Recently, my family and I took a road trip out west.  As we drove over the majestic Rockies, through colorful canyons, and around rich, red sandstone, I was overcome at the beauty of the world our God has created for us.




As we drove, mountains standing majestically in the distance, I was reminded of the writings of the prophet Nahum, "The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away."(Nahum 1:5)  To think that God is big enough and strong enough to make mountains quake simply by walking is mind blowing.  This same God who makes mountains tremble at His footsteps is the same God who brought the cosmos into being simply by the words of His mouth. 

  When we consider all the beauty and majesty that is to be found on this celestial ball we call home, how can we not echo the words of David as he asked, "What is man that you are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4)  Yet, a few lines later, David conveys the answer to his own question in words echoed by 1 Corinthians 15:27 & Ephesians 1:22.  "You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands." (Psalm 8:6).  This statement points towards Christ who God made to have dominion over all the world and everything in it.  The proof that God cares for mankind is made abundantly clear in the fact that God sent Christ to redeem all who are willing to come to Him.

 As you go throughout your summer and falls plans, take a few moments with your kids and enjoy the beauty of the world around you.  Whether in your backyard, at a state park, or on the sandy shore of a nearby beach, take a moment and talk with your child about the One who made this marvelous world and how He loves them and desires a relationship with them.


















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God Was Here

  As a child, I attended Camp Lylewood every year for church camp.  It was a glorious time of adventure and excitement as every church camp should be.  The boys’ cabins were on one side of the property, so as to separate boys from girls.  (Though this measure never stopped the boys from using a massive slingshot to launch water balloons at the girls).  Inside the cabins were rows of bunkbeds.  Inevitably, the underside of each upper bunk bore the name of some boy who had been there before.  Carved, etched, or drawn in the wood comprising the bedframe were names of boys who had enjoyed camp and who desired to let others know that they had been there and that they had left their mark on this place.  So, they proudly scrawled Tom, Danny, or John "was here." Genesis 2 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture.  In it we read how God "formed man out of the dust of the earth" (2:7).  The imagery here is that of God rolling up His sleeves and getting His hands dirty as
Read more

Embrace Your Inner Toddler

  Perhaps there are no two letters that change the relationship between parent and child more than those that form the word,  NO .  Up until a toddler learns this word, he or she appears to be such an angel.  Then, one day, that dreaded word touches his lips and the battle of wills between parent and child begins.  Yet, somewhere during our transition from childhood to adulthood we lose our ability to say, "NO."  We would all do well to embrace our inner toddler and utilize this word more.   This year has been a challenge for many, myself included.  Faced with the challenge of working from home while also attempting to maintain some semblance of a "normal" home life, I found that often the lines between family, work, and self-care were regularly blurred.  My responsibilities to my job, to my wife, to my son, and to myself all made demands upon my time and I felt myself being pulled in all directions.  My solution was simple: multi-task and do it all.  With my conf
Read more

Surviving 2020

The theme song for the year of 2020 should be Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive .  For all of you who just started singing it in your head, here's the link:  I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor .  Seriously though, 2020 has seen a pandemic, social unrest, a near collision with an asteroid, zombie fires (those are a thing??), murder hornets, re-emergence of cicadas, a Sahara dust cloud, tornadoes, earthquakes, broken dams, and skyrocketing unemployment and it's only July.  This will be a year to tell the grand kids as they sit wide-eyed listening to the struggles of the past.  Unfortunately, 2020 has also been a year for disappointment.  Seniors have lost out on graduations and senior proms, families have been forced to cancel long-awaited vacations, and kids have had their summer plans turned on their heads.  To say that 2020 has been hard to take in and process would be a huge understatement.  If ever there was a year to point to as proof of the need for the confidence faith in
Read more