Clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-clack
That is the sound I hear as I travel to a new city in Bulgaria. The subtle squeak of the seats and the bumps along the rail road tracks. I look out and see the beauty of a new spring. Green grass, trees starting to bloom with leaves and cherry blossoms. We travel on till the sunsets and night approaches, then the moon in all its glory appears in the night sky.
Travel days on the race can be some of the most difficult parts of the race. With uncertainty of when you are to arrive, if you are on the right bus, train, van, etc. The worries of if all your stuff will fit. And yet despite these little worries I have come to grow fond of them, because through it all I get to see and experience not only the people God has created but the beauty that captivates me.
Its funny to think how when we travel we are so willing to forget to stop and take it all in. Take in the feat of the creative mind that God gave us to build and manufacture transportation, the people even if they are cranky, and the beauty that is the world. We don’t stop to just experience the events, we rush through wanting to get to our next destination as soon as possible. What if we were to actually thank God for the opportunity and ability to travel? When is the last time any of us have paused thanked him for creating such a vast world for us to live in and journey into?
I must admit I am not one who has of recent. I go about the task of making sure all my things are packed, I have my ticket, my passport, and making sure everyone is good to go. It has become a natural thing for me to be on the move and not really soak it all in as I go.
God made this world, our lives, to be one continuous adventure to be a continual song of worship. Sure you may not be going to Japan, or India, you may just be headed to work or school or even church. But, God created those times of short travel to be as beautiful as the long ones. To captivate you and to shout to you to look at the beauty that is around you to bask in his presence and worship him.
I feel like there are two traits that we need to have if we want to increase our intimacy with God; receptivity and attentiveness. Receptivity is opening our innermost being to be filled with his abundant riches. Attentiveness is directing our gaze to him: searching for him in all our moments. It is possible to keep our minds on him, as the prophet Isaiah wrote. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
God calls us to worship him in the beauty of holiness. He created beauty to declare the existence of his holy being. A magnificent rose, a hauntingly glorious sunset, oceanic splendor-all these things were meant to proclaim his presence in the world.“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge” (Psalm 19:1-2). Like I stated before we rush past these proclamations without giving them a second thought. Its pretty neat to think that God takes pleasure in us when we are in awe of his creation, in his beauty.
This allows us then to be open to his holy presence. Even before we knew him personally, we responded to his creation with wonder, so why should that change now? This is a gift, and it carries responsibility with it. Declare his glorious being to the world! The whole earth is full of his radiant beauty-his glory! “Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2 NKJV).
Remember that God is continually speaking to us. He is just doing it through a different avenue; nature. Its another way to grab our attention, to speak louder to us sometimes. He flings glorious sunrises and sunsets across the sky, day after day after day. He speaks in the faces and voices of loved ones, of people we just met, through anyone. He caresses us with a gentle breeze that refreshes and delights us. He speaks softly in the depths of our spirit, where he has taken up residence. We can find him in each moment, because we have eyes that see and ears that hear. Papa, rejoices every time we encounter him in a new way. Practicing looking and listening for him during all life events gradually helps us find him in more and more moments. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your finger, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, that is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”
-Psalm 8:1-4
