Praising God

A post by Marilyn Peters:

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers…” (Psalm 8:3)

A couple of months ago, my five-year-old grandson, Joel, said, “Grandma, do you know how much I love your cookies?”

“No,” I answered. “How much?”

“One-hundred percent!”

That inspires me to say, Lord, do you know how much I love the things You do? One-hundred percent! I want to have eyes to see, that I may praise Him more. My friend, Barbara Primrose, tells me that once when she flew from Boise to Oregon, the complete circle of a rainbow surrounded the plane. How intense it was! Moreover, the shadow of the aircraft was in the middle of it. Awesome!

Again, she told the story of a man in California who observed a duckling on a river. An eagle also spotted it, and swooped with lightning speed to take it as prey. At just that second, the duck ducked below the water! The eagle again circled and fell toward the little duck. But another eagle also targeted the duck at the same moment, and the two eagles crashed into each other. The first fell dead, the other flew off, somewhat crippled. The duckling just kept swimming, as if nothing had happened. The man who took in this fantastic scenario was amazed that a second man, who sat on the tailgate of his pickup, saw nothing.

Every day we have opportunities to observe what God does, to appreciate a sunset or full moon, crocuses in bloom, or the prancing of Pomeranians on their owners’ leashes. In Costa Rica last month, I prayed to have eyes to see His special creatures. The next day from a bus, I spotted four bright green birds, smaller than a parrot, much larger than parakeets, sitting on a telephone wire. No one else appeared to see them. One morning (when I lived there) as I sauntered down the trail to my thirteen banana trees, I reveled in the beauty of a cloud cover over the valley 2,000 feet below. Nearby about eight parakeets flocked to one of the tall laurel trees. Parakeets often partied in the trees of the central park. Once I caught a glimpse of a hummingbird flitting in and out of the iron-barred windows of a lawyer’s office like a weaver’s shuttle.

I’m thankful for the variety God gives, that we might not get bored with the beauty He creates. Just looking at the sky, there is day and night, sun and moon, stars and planets, but also different colors. Sometimes the sky is grey or blue, or a palette of hues at the dawn. There are mists. The same place looks different when it’s sunny from when it rains or bathed in a robe of new snow. Even clouds constantly change shapes and consistency.

As I take time to laugh at my cat who rolls up in my bathmat like an enchilada with whiskers (while I take a shower), I thank God for the wonder of animals. You are awesome, Lord. I love what You do one-hundred percent! Show me more!