"Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day."
-Shira Tamir
I finished reading the Bible a few weeks ago, setting out to read the entire book cover to cover in a year, although it took us closer to two instead. And while I haven't taken the chance to collect my thoughts on all the learning and growing that's taken place in the process of it all, I can definitely say it's made me more aware. More aware of the great big plan God set in motion in that Garden of Eden and carried forth through the simplest of details and the most broken of people. More aware of my place in that plan, my not-so-accidental gifts and places and people God's put here on purpose to help play my part. More aware of the power of his living word, and how it can convict, connect, inspire, challenge, and heal, sometimes all at the same time. And mostly, more aware of just how wide and long and high and deep His love is. For all of creation.
Now that I'm finished with my reading, I've enjoyed the process of dabbling back in a more devotional-type reading for the time being. I started a short 14-day She Reads Truth study on prayer, and am reading through 14 Psalms to help me in this area I still struggle to make a regular part of my day. Today I read Psalm 104, a beautiful prayer offering praise for the God of Creation. I loved it so much I read through it several times throughout my day.
"He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate -
bringing forth food from the earth:
wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts."
What a beautiful time to read those words as fall is here. The big moon, that warm sun, the rainbow of leaves that crunch under our feet, and the death of life that will soon usher in the anticipation of a king is both powerful and poetic. I marvel at a God big enough to create a universe so vast, yet small enough to reveal Himself in the simplest of details. And just as knowing Him more through reading His word has made me more aware of who He is, it's also made me more aware of all the ways He reveals himself in this gift of a world He's created.
"God himself takes pleasure in His own creation because it is an expression of His glory, and as His image-bearers, we too ought to delight in what He has created." (She Reads Truth)
Think about that for a second. Not only did God create this world and all its beauty as an expression of who he is, but he made us to delight in it as his image-bearers. To taste and see His goodness, His provision, His glory, and to live in such a way that invites others to see it as well. I don't know about you, but that's an invitation I want to live well.
And if there's any place that invites me to step right into God's creation, it's deep in the woods in October. On this particular Wednesday afternoon, it was the way the leaves danced off the trees and made a blanket under our feet. It was the way the squirrels scurried about, standing tall to stare at us for a second before sticking acorns in their cheeks to store away for winter. It was the heartbeat in my chest as I watched my babes trudge hand in hand through the leaves, their smiles stretched wide and laughter echoing through the trees. It was the way the sunshine made their faces glow and the way time sort of stopped as I sat on that cold ground and just watched them. When we stop, and notice, and feel all that God's created, both the big and the small, He delights in us. And we can't help but respond in a little bit of awe and a whole lot of praise.
Pictures from our annual Hartman hike. And if my words didn't inspire, watch the opening song from our church's fall kickoff service back in August. Watch the song all the way through and I promise you will feel something! I can see your heart in everything you've done. Every part designed in a work of art called love.
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