Good morning (depending on when you see this) from sunny and very warm Indianapolis! I’m getting an early start today … and it’s going to be a long one. But right now, the sun is rising, and I’m looking out the window of a friend’s house at a calm, glassy lake. There are days when I’m more visually reminded of the greatness of God’s creation!
I can’t say that anything dramatic happened. Just the sun rising, as it has every morning for countless generations. And yet, it was enough … more than enough, really.
We spend so much of our lives looking past the ordinary wonders surrounding us. We rush from appointment to appointment, meeting to meeting, task to task. We fill our minds with news, schedules, worries, and plans. We become so focused on what’s next that we fail to notice what’s now.
Yet creation continues its quiet testimony. The sun rises. The water reflects. Birds sing. Trees offer a canopy from the brightness of the sun. And the glory of God is revealed all around us.
The psalmist wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Every sunrise is part of that declaration. Every lake, every forest, every field, every star-filled night reminds us that we inhabit a world that was first imagined by God, spoken into being, and then called good.
Not useful. Not productive. Not efficient. Good. “Tov” in Hebrew.
Sometimes we need to step away from our routines long enough to remember that we are part of this creation. We’re not merely managers of calendars, consumers of information, or producers of results. We are creatures fashioned by the same God who paints the morning sky and calms the waters.
When we lose our sense of wonder, we often lose our sense of gratitude. When we lose our sense of gratitude, we can begin to believe that life is little more than a series of obligations and routines. Creation calls us back and reminds us of something greater.
Look at the world God has made. And then remember that the Creator who fashioned all this beauty also fashioned you.
Moments like these feel sacred. They remind us that before we were workers, leaders, parents, pastors, or professionals, we were beloved creations of a God who delighted in the world he created, and it is a world that still bears the fingerprints of its Maker.
The sun rises every day. The wonder is that we sometimes stop long enough to notice.
Prayer: Creator God, thank you for the beauty that surrounds me and for the gift of eyes that can still see it. In a world that often moves too quickly, help me notice the quiet wonders of your creation. Remind me that I am part of this good world you made, and am deeply loved by the One who made it. Restore in me a sense of wonder, gratitude, and joy. Amen.
