God in the Details

Have you had a wonderful summer? It isn’t quite over according to the calendar, but we do begin to look ahead. We begin to think about the change of seasons and the hurried pace of fall. A lot happens in the fall that takes our time, our money, and our attention. Fun things. Expensive things. Bright and colorful things.

I’d like to make a suggestion. Might we slow down just a little now and then, not forsaking the sparkle and glitter and crispness of fall, but simply lifting our faces to the sun when the days get shorter? Might we feel God’s heat in the warmth of it? Could we look around us now and then? We might see the colors that deepen before they fall to the earth and rejoin those that have fallen before them? Can we see God’s plan in that? We might marvel at the light that grows dimmer with each passing day and the night that lengthens and grows still. We might listen for the sound of crickets and tree frogs and evening birds only to be met with silence. Can we hear the still, small voice of God in the silence?

I don’t mean to get sentimental. It isn’t sentiment. What I’m asking is if we are willing to seek God in those places we consider to be the background of our lives. So very often, what we consider the background, God considers the foreground! We look for God in the big events, and surely God is there. But more often than not, God is revealed to us in the smallest of details. We think God is in the wedding party when God is really in the rich and intoxicating wine. We think God is only in the miraculous healing when God is even more present in the one who is healed who may now return to her community. We think that God is only in the parted sea and the burning bush when God is more often in the still lake and crackling camp fire where friends gather and fellowship.

This fall, take the time to celebrate God in the big events, but don’t forget to look for God in the details of life. If we only live from big event to big event, we miss the joy that is everywhere to be had!

#joy #peace