God's Majestic Playground

Have you ever wondered as I have how wonderful and majestic the universe is. Having grown up watching Nature shows from Channel 13 that featured animals interacting with each other. That is on a micro scale. From God's lenses, he takes in a more mighty view-seeing everything through a fish eye lens-getting all the nuances together-interchanging the lenses that He has in His camera bag. having those images hanging in the walls on heaven, he captures what He has made and can reflect in His sabbath afternoon His creation.

One time in particular that I remember is a night when I was almost ready to go to bed and my dad invited us out to the steps of the cottage by the woods and sea to look up and the see the Northern lights that swept the evening sky. A floodlight that flashed back and forth across the heavens. A time of particular unique beauty that could never be captured by an artist. Something that has to be savored in the moment. Something like the sip of ice cold soda on a hot summer day or the slurp on an ice cream cone by the DownEast Ice cream shack overlooking Boothbay Harbor.

Thank you God for giving me the opportunities to view your creation during the past 30 years in Maine-years that I have been fully alive and alert in the world. Being able to discern and understand hardships and to appreciate the times alone and with family in nature to be nurtured again and brought into a sense of wholeness again. An aliveness being infused into me. A lot of that time was before I understood the role of God in my life. And for an appreciation of His provision of angels in key times of my life such as when I fell down a flight of stairs on the fourth of July Weekend in 1976-our country's bicentennial year. A time of upheaval in our kitchen being remodeled. But mostly as a time for me when I was spared significiant injury and given a chance to explore a world that has given me a great deal of meaning. That might be why Maine has been so valuable to me since I recognize it as a gift given to me by God to appreciate and be able to endure tought times as well.

There was never a time where I ever doubted God's presence around me. But it became more real to me as I started my college days At Fairfield University. This was when I sat and had lunch with a student I met in the commons and started to discuss the issues of life and the mysteries of God. Some thoughts ended up on an envelope that had a prescription in it. Kind of poignant that lessons of living in the present and also towards the future were forged between mouthfulls of food and drink. How I wish I could have more opportunities to step out onto a porch or into the commons to discuss details of life with others. But they are opportunities to ponder the role that we have in the face of God's creation.