The Divine meets the Ordinary

"Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I read this the other day in a book that I am reading and it really jumped off the page at me. I want to live my life in such a way that I see the awesome majesty of God in every blade of grass and every snowflake. I don't want the simple and commonplace to ever become ordinary for me. The Bible tells us that God has created all things and the Jesus sustains all things by His word. That means that everything in creation bears the wonderful, loving fingerprint of almighty God. How cool is that! It is my desire to always be moved by God by His great creation. I don't want to just sit around stuffing my face with blackberries and miss the amazing presence of God all round me.

It seems to me that too many individuals in our society are smitten by so many pale substitutes and we throw our lives to fleeting peasure and material goods. We work so hard to make money just to get what it is we think we need/want and all the while we miss the great pleasures of life that God intended us to enjoy. The biggest thing we miss out on as we pluck blackberries is the presence of God Himself. In our busyness and lack of attention to His detail, we miss Him altogether. What a shame.

My mom and my wife deserve some credit in helping me see the fire of God in every bush. Thanks Mom and Becky. You guys are both amazing women who have aided my depth of character in this area of my life. Thanks to you both for enjoying the sunsets and waterfalls with me as well as the little birds and ladybugs and all the "small things" that I would have missed without you.

Don't let the real life pass you by today. Stop stuffing your face with blackberries and take off your shoes in the presence of God's holiness that is all around us.