The meteor shower

At first I was just thinking about myself. Keeping warm under a blanket, sitting comfortably and only then did I look up. Up at the myriad of stars, I waited for the sky to explode with showers of light. The waiting enabled me to focus beyond myself, to the heavens. And then I found that the meteors appeared. Fast, transient. I stretched my vision to capture the skyscape. A spectacle of a trident of three meteors, each separating and exploring their new path wowed me. So far beyond! Such distant reach! All in the canopy of the heavens, of which I am a tiny part. But I was reminded how much God includes and wants me playing my part in his vast universe.

Try reading Psalm 19 really slowly to absorb something of the magnificence of God's world. Then try re-reading each section and thinking of how God communicates through his creation, through his word. What might he be saying to you today?

A time for listening

I sat watching the stream as it meandered through the wooded glen. This is a place for listening, I thought. Listening to the gentle babble of water, listening to life in birdsong, leaves rustling in the breeze, the work of honey bees, the leap of the grass crickets. The quiet rush of life and the still edges at the water's margins.

The words of the Psalmist came to mind; Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46 v 10) Why is it, I wondered, am I so reluctant to stop, to be still? What is it I run away from in knowing of God? Now is the time and the place for listening and of knowing God.

Lesson from the butterfly

A common white butterfly caught my attention as it hovered and fluttered, searching for choice nectar amongst the scant offerings in the parched, rough grassland.

Soaring above, the skyline was filled with mountain grandeur. They stood majestic, enduring, sure. But the butterfly was oblivious to the wonder, as it scratched out it's existence in the scrub.

I was on holiday, drinking in the stupendous beauty of the Lake district. Pausing to rest, reflect and step back from day to day pressures. Yet I felt the butterfly was teaching me a lesson also. Telling me to look up to the heavens, to receive God's perspective and acknowledge God's eternal provision for my soul. I don't have to search for crumbs of existence, when the God of all creation meets with me through his word, the Bible, through his creation and through his people.