Knowing Where to Look

For whatever reason, we are drawn toward the spectacular.  We long for earthshaking, monumental events that tilt the scales toward us.  Perhaps because our God created the universe, we look for him at the national and global level.  And to be sure, God is present at these upper levels of society.  The problem is that these levels are a long way removed from our daily experience.  We tend to be nearsighted people who have a hard time discerning events at a distance.

That’s why we need to remember that God didn’t just create galaxies and planets.  He created molecules and cells and insects and flowers.  As much as we want God to be obvious in astounding and dramatic ways, we see him best when he is right in front of us, often in the small things: in conversations with a friend, in the song of a bird, in your toddler’s new skill, in the quiet of a few moments with your morning coffee, in the smell of the woods.  It is comforting to remember that God is bigger than the universe.  But it’s perhaps even more comforting to know that he inhabits the small, the timebound, and the ordinary as well.