Hello from California! We’re continuing along our road trip and I wanted to share some musings and reflections from earlier this week. Just a quick thought here, lots more to come!
This is our fifth year making the long trek down south, and we’ve learned a few things from these family vacations over the years. The first is this: The more God-made things we can enjoy, the better. That is, we’ll choose God-made stuff over man-made stuff every time. National Parks over Amusement Parks, trees over rides, hikes over trams, campgrounds over hotels, home-cooked meals over fast-food. Not knocking those other things at all, every family’s different, just saying we’ve discovered that we flourish when we surround ourselves with stuff that’s closer to Creation. It’s slower. We’re happier.
Clearly we only go so far in this, however. We drove here. We didn’t sleep on the ground. We used navigation systems on our iphones. I’m typing on a laptop. The kids are watching Anne of Green Gables in the backseat.
But even right now as I type these words, we are driving away from the Redwood Forest, headed inland, toward a city. And my heart sinks just a little that we have to leave the land of majestic trees, of silent forests and endless trails, of cool shady coves and secluded picnic spots.
When I was in my overwhelming funk, when I was feeling sick and miserable, when I was grumpy and frustrated, we packed up a picnic and hiked through the Redwood forest.
And there, we looked up.
That’s how things look up.
Things look up when we do.
For me, God’s creation causes me to look up like nothing else. God’s Word, the precious people in my church family, and the glory of God’s natural world is what causes praise to spring up in my heart, what causes everything to fall into place, what brings back the perspective I so desperately need. Really, it’s just worship. The practice of worshipping is simply setting our gaze back on God. Returning to Him, remembering, reconnecting with Him, with truth.
Standing there, in the grove of God’s gigantic grace, I settle into my smallness and my heart kneels before the splendor of the King. He is God. I am not. He is good. Always. No matter how I feel, these trees declare His glory, and I find my peace and rest within His power. I can trust Him. He has told me He works all things for good. I don’t need to feel good to know this is true. I don’t have to feel anything in particular. I can just stand before these massive trees and know that He is unchanging, all powerful, all good.
I can rest in this.
I know that a cold is not a big deal. I wasn’t experiencing true suffering. But the principle is the same. Things look up when we do.
When we behold His greatness and tuck ourselves into the truth of who He is. This can happen anywhere, but it always requires a turning upward of our gaze. Up to His truth. Up to His love. Up to His heart.
This is worship. It changes everything.
I’m grateful for that little cold, and the big Redwoods, that brought this truth back to my heart.
{How can you look up today? Thanks for reading.}