A Winnowing Fork

I love the mountains.  Driving back to school yesterday afternoon I was struck for the thousandth time by the magnificence of those smoky mountains.  I see them every day, and every day I am awestruck by their beauty.  I have hiked all over those mountains, and even if I take a trail I’ve been on before, I always notice something new and the scenery never gets old. 

Something about the mountains makes me think about God.  I can’t drive through a mountain range or even get a glimpse of them on the horizon without worshiping Him.  I love the beauty and complexity and splendor of the mountains.  But how much more beautiful and complex and splendid is their Maker?  Just as I marvel at their size and my own seeming insignificance, I see myself compared with God’s infinite greatness.  Just as I can walk all over them and never know every hidden corner or every bend, I can and will spend the rest of my earthly life knowing God more and more but never even coming close to comprehending all there is to know. 

Most days, as soon as I leave my room and walk to class I notice the mountains.  But sometimes, though not often, I completely miss them.  They are still there, and I know they are, but I am too busy or stressed or distracted to look their way.  How often do we do this with God? God, who is immeasurably more vast and magnificent and wonderful than a simple mountain range.  God, who, in spite of our weakness and insignificance and destitution, loves us and pursues us.  We still know He is there, but we fail to cast even a glance in His direction, much less invest in our relationship with Him.  Oh, but we must!  He is everything already, but we need to be intentional about focusing our hearts and minds to make Him everything in our lives.  I pray I don’t miss the glory of God today because I am enraptured with myself.