Sky High Love

Taking the dogs out once more before going to bed, my eyes turned to the sky and I felt my feet come to a standstill on the driveway. Over and around me, the sky stretched out; immense and painted with color, patterns and textures that more than rivaled the master painters. Because I have the habit to sing, well – anywhere; a song came out, "His Eye is on the Sparrow.” All I could do was stand, stare and sing; and of course keep an eye on the dogs who might go wandering.   

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him” Psalm 103:11

 

Just thinking of the space between where my toes met the ground below and the reach of the heavens above, the immensity of the love described was breathtaking. I stretched out my arms, filled up my lungs with air, and took up only a tiny fraction of that space. 

Such love can feel too large and powerful for me to comprehend; beautifully overwhelming to the touch and sight. I think this is why the thought of the sparrow is the one that first came to me.

“And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”  Luke 12:6b-7

The tiny bird that many would deem to be insignificant is not forgotten by the Creator. The knower of the large and small, is in the magnificence of the heavens and in the infinite subtlety of a tiny creature of flight. As I continue to view the sky, my heart was full to overflowing. 

Life

    It has been a busy weekend, with plants, tree frogs tad poles, mustangs with eagle feathers, and little baby robins fledglings.  The robins we have been watching for the last few weeks took their chances and left the nest.  It is amazing to me how these little lives can know how to fly after being alive and out of their shells less than a month!  Their eyes aren’t even open for about five days.  To know that they are now out there, and on their own is very exciting.  As much as miss seeing those little feathered faces with wide open mouths as I stand at the kitchen sink, it is a thrill to see some adolescent robin fly from limb to limb. 

    The precious state of life, fragile in baby birds or little tadpoles was demonstrated this weekend.  A trip to a friend’s house led me to spend some time happily taking pictures of various animals, including tree frog eggs and tadpoles.  These tiny dots would become the little fish like creatures, and then on to become tree frogs.  Surrounded by these little creatures, chicks, hens, and beautiful plants, it was a gently vibrant place where life was flourishing. 

    I think we may take life for granted some days, get used to what is around us and forget it’s miraculous nature in just being present.  I mean, think of the variety of those frogs, birds, and plants.  They are so diverse that it boggles the imagination.  

Airport Elevator Waiting Rooms

    It strikes me every time I fly that airports are kind of like a cross between giant waiting rooms and elevators. I don’t mean the waiting room as in waiting at the gate, but more of the mentality. We shuffle through all of the check points and then arrive at our gate. Then, we sit and wait – like I’m doing right now – in those semi-comfortable chairs. But, if you take a look around it kind of resembles the feel of and mentality of a cross between an elevator and waiting room. There are of course a few exceptions to the rule, but for the most part, we don’t really talk to the people we don’t know. We try not to sit right next to someone if we can help it. I have to admit that I find it kind of funny.

    I really enjoy flying; I think I always have, particularly in small planes. My first flight was when I was a little girl. I don’t remember it, but I have heard the stories. Apparently I watched the ground fall away from a Cessna taking flight, and my comment was that I had to go to the bathroom. Promptly falling asleep soon after, that problem resolved itself; but, a love of flight was born that day. Since then I have flown with family and friends, by myself, and for learning about science experiments. It really is a remarkable feat, taking a metallic cylinder with engines, a tail, and wings, and pushing it hard enough against the forces of the air and atmosphere to create thrust and lift. How magical it must have seemed to the first flyers. I think of Orville and Wilbur in their spruce and canvas bird, how amazed they might be now to see the trans-Atlantic birds.
    Part of it is the mystery of how it works, I mean we know how the engine works and how the principles of science work – but there is still so much that we simply do not know. It’s a beautiful, magical mystery and one that I hope I continue to enjoy my entire life. The other part is the view that flight offers us. Certainly there are conveniences which are unique to truly being to travel much closer to “as the crow flies.” But, the view of looking down through those port hole windows is a truly unique perspective. We can gain a glimpse of it on a bluff or even more so a mountain. But, at thousands of feet above earth, the ground itself becomes a work of art. Tapestries of fields, webs of roads – they stretch out over the land. Rivers glint like poured silver, a filigree of delicate and immense proportion to decorate the world. Oceans are not mono-colored, but have many different shades of blues, grays, and greens. The sky itself takes on a different look, as the location we are in within the atmosphere is different; we see the top of the clouds.
    We sit in the airplane, in the giant waiting rooms, and ignore this common experience. But, in truth we are sitting through something extraordinary together. Perhaps, just perhaps, we should break the mentality and really start to talk to our fellow passengers; after all we are waiting together.

Misunderstood Covering

   We have been having heat advisories here nearly every day. I know it’s hot when the walk from my car to the office leaves my sunglass rims hot enough that they are uncomfortable against my face. The high humidity and heat leave me craving cool weather, cool water, cool air – cool everything! So, as I climb into my car after such a hot day and crank up the air conditioner, I wonder for a few minutes if it is making any difference at all. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the air cools a bit and then a little more. In the time between the air conditioning really taking strong effect and the initial blast of heat, it seems that nothing is occurring. And yet, cool air is really slowly moving in and the space is cooling off.

   I think that something similar happens with headaches and taking a couple over the counter pain pills. A pounding headache, burning eyes, and piercing straight into your skull from any lights doesn’t necessarily go away from two ibuprofen. And yet, when the pain pills wear off, it comes to light how much they were really helping.
   It is the same way with God’s peace. God moves in his own way, and speaks with a still small voice. We often think nothing is happening, that nothing is changing. And then the pain is diminished, the air is cooled and we realize that there was something happening all along.

Unwrapped

I recently got to tie-dye with some friends. Besides having feet and hands a bit stained, the dying went well. It was so amazing watching the fabric soak up the dye. Then, we had to practice our patience as we let everything sit over night. The next evening, I pulled out the first t-shirt. It was bound still with twine and rubber bands. I rinsed and some of the die came out. Then, after doing the rinse ring cycle several times, it was time to cut away the rubber bands and twine. I was a little nervous doing this. The colors on the outside were really strong and vibrant. But, as I imagined a whole shirt looking like this, I wondered if it would just be a mess of brown on the inside. Starting at one end and moving toward the other, each little binder came off. Much to my amazement and delight, beautiful patterns emerged and the color combinations came together in expected and unexpected ways. Standing out in the grass under the big tree in the front yard, I thought about how we are much the same way. We get bound up and wrapped up in different things, people, events, activities. Our life gets filled up with colorful memories and actions. Even when it is full of good things, the colors on the outside may seem to bright, too much. Eventually, we get so wrapped up that it just looks like one great big color blob on the outside. But then, God unwraps the bindings. Underneath, and in-between the areas where we think that there is just going to a brown muck, there is instead colors and patterns, blending and swirling in unexpected ways.

The Air I Need to Breathe

There is a song that I keep hearing snatches of in my head, one phrase really and it just plays over and over. It’s not one of those really annoying stuck in your head songs like Rubber Ducky or The Song That Never Ends. It is just a phrase where it acknowledges that God knows just how much air I will need to breathe. It blows me away. I never thought of that before. It’s not like my breathing is an always constant thing. I use more air when yawning or taking a brisk walk, breathing deep and really filling my lungs. At other times, that breathing is just so matter of fact, I don’t even think about it.

That amazes me. I’m sure there is some average we could figure. The human lungs hold approximately this much air volume. From that, multiply it by the number of adults estimated and we can get some sort of a figure of how much air we need. But unless we are going to drastically over-estimate, would you all mind breathing a bit slower and more shallowly? I’d hate to run out.
The creator of the universe knows how much air I will need in my life, how many sighs, yawns, gasps, deep breaths, and just normal breaths I will take. Amazing!