A Moment of Childlike Imagination

Well, it is obvious that I haven’t blogged in forever. I have so much to share, but I haven’t written in quite some time and I’m floundering about, not knowing where or how to start. So to ease my way back into it, this is a quick entry capturing a moment from today followed by some thoughts.

I finish putting away the dishes, and run to my ringing phone.  I agree to help my Nana with her groceries.  I hang up and put on my coat and scarf.  My mind is swarming with busyness and numbness at the same time. Oh how I’m starving for His beauty, I’m parched of His glory. Stepping outside, I’m almost knocked over by the feeling that bubbles inside me as I come face to face with a gorgeous sunset. A smile slowly creeps its way out of hiding. And for some reason, seeing it with my eyes just doesn’t seem enough. I long for the beauty to soak deep inside me. How do I get that - that sheer brilliance – into my empty lungs?  With a childlike imagination, a straw comes to mind. If only I could just stick a straw into the stunning sight and suck God’s beauty into myself.  If only.  And then as the wind whips my hair back, I realize the ridiculousness of the image, and so biting my lip I push the idea to the back of my mind. I resume walking, focusing on the reason of why I came outside in the first place, to cross the street to my Nana’s.

But why? Why is that so ridiculous? Who said everything needs to be reasonable?  Why can’t I be like a child? Why does everything need to be so serious? Does my Heavenly Father care that I immediately wanted to suck in some beauty through a straw? Can’t I just have those silly little moments with my Papa? 

As I think about it now, I realize that my immediate reaction was perfectly fine. No, it was beautiful. Through the blood that Jesus shed on the cross, I was adopted as a daughter into God’s family. My reaction to the sunset reminds me that He is continually drawing me closer into an intimate relationship with Himself. He is my Papa. He is my Creator. He made me unique. He loves me as I am…with my silly thoughts and all.  And of course I’m starving for His glory.  Nothing of this world satisfies the way He does.  And so it only makes sense for me to feel starved after a day doing odds and ends around the house, and then to feel overwhelmed by God’s sheer beauty by stepping outside and beholding the beauty of God’s creation. It’s in His creation where I come the closest to getting a glimpse of just a sliver of my Papa’s glory.  It’ll never be truly enough until I get to go home to be with Him.  But how it brings peace and contentment to me in the day-to-day battle.  I am so incredibly thankful for His beauty, grace, and love. 

Romans 8:15-17 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.  For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened – not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

And all of Psalm 104 (look it up! It’s awesome)