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 reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19: 1-4a NIV)
Autumn is my favorite time of the year. I love the colors, the crisp air, and the utter beauty all around me. I got used to all of that growing up in the mountain west. For a year or my life I tried to live in Florida, and I just couldn’t take it, I missed my seasons, especially autumn.
I’d like you to think about your favorite season, your favorite time of year, or your favorite time to be outside. For some of you that season might be spring, with all of the bright new flowers. For some it might be summer, when the heat of the sun warms the earth, and for others it might even be winter. I hate the cold, and I hate driving in the snow, but even I will admit that there aren’t many things more beautiful in life than a new blanket of white snow covering the trees and the ground on a winter night. What season speaks to you? When do you most see the splendor of the Creator?
Have you ever considered just how much it takes, how everything has to come together for you to be you, sitting in front of your computer or on a mobile device reading this blog right now on whatever day it is when you see this? Seriously, the math is absolutely astounding. I tried being an atheist once, and I couldn’t manage it. Now, I’m not trying to spit on or denigrate atheists, some of my best friends are atheists, but in the end I couldn’t do it. Maybe you all have something I don’t, but I can’t imagine that everything coming together to put me where I’m at in my life at 7:21 PM on Sunday, October 8 2017, in Clinton, Utah is merely by accident or random chance. Now I know I’ll probably get angry comments or emails saying that I’m misconstruing the argument, and that’s fine. This isn’t a post about apologetics, this is a post about how I see the world.
This is a post about being alive.
Have you thought about how awesome it really is that you and I are actually alive and drawing breath? Look up in the night sky and see the all the stars, then realize that even in your largest field of view you can’t comprehend how large the universe is. Look at the fallen leaves on the ground and see that each one is not quite the same as the one next to it. Look at the fingerprints on your own hands and marvel at the fact that no human being who has ever walked this earth has had the same fingerprints that you do, and no one will ever have them again.
Fingerprints are cool, right? Well when I look around I see the fingerprints of the Creator, of the great I AM, of YHWH all over creation. The Psalmist I quoted at the beginning of this post felt the same way.
After a couple of years, I’m going through Brian McLaren’s book “We Make the Road by Walking” again. I credit McLaren, more than any other human being, with bringing me, the big time prodigal son, back to God. In the first chapter he remarks that God said “Let it Be,” and it was! He asks us to imagine the power of the cosmic forces coming together to birth the universe. He asks us to visualize life’s very first dance, when protons and neutrons and electrons all danced together to same music of creation to bring forth life for the very first time.
Isn’t it awesome to think of it that way? What would you give to be there, to get a look at that very first dance, to hear that melody?
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. That melody is still playing. God didn’t put down his instrument for good and stop playing. It is very much alive and beautiful, sometimes it’s just hard to hear it over the din of ugliness, anger, and violence in our world. We are to be reminded that when God spoke to Elijah on the mountain it came not as a rush of violent wind, but as a still, small voice.
Yes, it can be hard to catch the tune and it can be hard to hear the still small voice, but as McLaren points out, when God says “Let it Be,” he’s giving each and every one of us an invitation to hear the melody, to dance to the tune, and to be alive in the fullest sense of the word. Jesus himself says that being alive is the point of it all when he says “I have come so that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
God invites us to be part of the story he is writing. We are designed to feel the wind on our face and the warm embrace of other people. We are allowed, even encouraged, to enjoy the wonders of the autumns leaves and the intimacy that takes place when people fall in love. It was all created, it was all good when it was created, and despite all our attempts to diminish it, it is all still good today.
Especially when we take a moment to reconnect with our creator and hear once again the tune and the harmony of life going on in us and around us.
Go forth, my friends, and live life, live life to the fullest and dance to the melody!
“Dance, dance, wherever you may be! I am the Lord of the Dance said He. I’ll lead you all wherever you may be, I’ll lead you all in the dance said He!”