One of my first trips out of the country was to Iceland. It was the perfect vacation and one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. While there, my friends and I snorkeled between North American and European tectonic plates, hiked a glacier, and saw waterfalls bigger than any skyscraper in New York City. If you’ve never seen pictures, google them, and thank me later.
I sometimes think it was so beautiful that no other place can compare. Not even any of the places I’ve seen the past 11 months. After Iceland, everything people would point out as beautiful just didn’t do it for me.
When someone would point out a waterfall in Texas- “Meh”. When they saw a mountain driving from country to country- “That’s cool”. I didn’t think anything would ever be as grand as that first trip.
At the end of our month in Peru, my squad was able to go to Machu Picchu. I’ll admit, it was the second prettiest place that I’ve ever seen. On our way home that night, I was relaxing with my earbuds in when I saw a bunch of my squad mates rush over to one side of the bus. I could see the awe in their faces, so I took out my earbuds to see what was going on. When I looked out of my window, I could see close to a thousand stars and the outline of the Milky Way in the pitch black night sky.
Most of my race has been spent in bigger cities with a lot of light pollution, which has made it hard to see stars. This was the first time on my entire race that I had seen more than a few stars at a time. I watched my friends gasp in awe of the sky as they talked about how amazing God is, but, once again, my response was, “That’s cool”. The last time that I was able to see this many stars and the Milky Way, the Northern Lights were dancing across the sky with them. This current experience seemed to pale in comparison.
I put my earbuds back in, and as if it was orchestrated, the next song that came on my playlist was called “Extravagant”. A line from the song includes, “it’s unthinkable, only heaven knows just how far you’d go to say you love us”. I realized that was exactly what God was trying to do that night.
He created those stars knowing that I would be there that exact night looking up at them, and here I am acting like a spoiled child that throws a tantrum when she receives a gift that’s not quite what she expected. And that makes God the proud parent that is beside himself with excitement to give his child something special that he worked so hard for.
Isaiah 40:26 says, “Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created the stars. The one who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name. Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.” God was showing me His power and His gentleness, but I didn’t bother to appreciate it or give it a second glance.
God revealed to me that this is also how I have viewed my relationship with Him on the Race. I’ve been pretty open with my teammates that I felt closer to God before this trip. My days are filled with plenty of “small” moments, but I haven’t really seen any “big” moments.
Granted, I’ve never been married, but I imagine that my relationship with God is a lot like a marital relationship. We start off with this honeymoon phase where everything that happens is amazing and we feel those little butterflies because of our excitement. But then life happens, and as time passes, things that used to excite us become mediocre.
You cooked dinner for me again? “Thanks.” You tell me you love me every day? “That’s nice.” The lesson here is that God is in every moment – the awe inspiring and the mundane. I might not have those butterflies in my stomach at every moment and He might not perform a miracle in my life every day, but I choose to see His beauty. I choose to love Him, even when I don’t feel like it. Just like He chooses to love me despite me not always doing the right thing.
From now on, when I look at the stars, I will remember to choose to appreciate the good and the bad in my life. To have child- like awe when I think of God. To think of God’s daily gift of love that He has given me.
