The God of Galaxies Cares about Me
Monday, January 4, 2010 at 12:00AM A Note from Beth: Please take a few minutes take a few minutes to give me some feedback on The Uncluttered Heart. Click here to take the survey. Blessings and thanks, Beth
Prayer
Creative and creating God, thank you for creating the universe with its vast galaxies. And thank you for creating me, infinitely tiny in comparison but precious in your sight. Amen.
Carry These Words in Your Heart Today
The God of 150 billion galaxies cares about me.
Today's Picture
This was the moon rise in a Washington sky last summer. It reminded me that I'm not the center of the Universe (thank goodness!).
Question
How would your life change if you were able to keep God at the center rather than other things? Share your thoughts on the question or on today's entry in the book.
Book of the Day
Spiritual Preparation for Christian Leadership
E. Glenn Hinson
I got to study under Glenn Hinson a few years ago when he was a presenter at my Academy for Spiritual Formation. I had always loved this book, but hearing him speak brought the pages of the book more alive for me. In this book, he examines the spiritual preparation of the ordinary people who were invited to become Christian leaders and saints. The quote from Spiritual Preparation that we used in The Uncluttered Heart is one of my favorite Upper Room gems. (Today's words for the day come from that quote.) More about the book.
Sing Your Prayer
Open My Heart - All four verses. Listen.
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Reader Comments (10)
Today's image and message reminded me to give thanks for our shared Advent journey; the visual images have been a wonderful gift and helpful tool for directing my focus. I'm grateful to Beth and feel a poignant sense of loss for the day these messages end. Can we do a Lenten journey?
My life would be unspeakably different if I could keep Christ at the center - as my lone source of contentment. I long for that and I ask for His help with that. There would be peace like I have never known. Sure I have had moments, times of great peace - but they don't endure. And it isn't that He has left me - but rather that I have roamed away. And why - I still can't figure that out. Father - help me to thirst only for Your water.
Like Paula, I am interested in a Lenten journey!
Centering my life on Christ would make all the difference - I pray for that daily and, like Jill, have experienced moments of the peace that this centering can bring. I pray that I can sustain that peace as I move through 2010.
Today's picture and centering words "The God of 150 billion galaxies cares about me".... have particular impact. Just yday, a neighbor shared his time lapse pictures of dying stars, colorful nebulous gaseous galaxies, a nest of new stars in the Orion constellation, moon eclipses.... taken with his 12-inch telescope with exposure from 1 to 5 hours. If that wasn't a lesson in the magnitude of God, and the wonder that He would care for me, I don't know what would do it. The awe and wonder I felt in seeing this technology capturing the mysteries of our Creator was profound. Thank you, Beth, for YOUR picture and the amazing thoughts and prayers that our God would always command center place in our hearts and lives. It is the goal of my journey in this new year.
If I were able to keep God at the center, my life would appear calm as the surface of a still, glassy lake on a bright and sunny day. I would be able to see my reflection and the reflection of all around me in that lake. Clarity would abound. I would be able to respond with grace to all the chaos being thrown at me. I would be able to radiate that calm outward and slow the chaos down, if only in the smallest manner.
I can only imagine ...
Yesterday, I baptized our grandaughter in an ecumenical service. One of the pastor's spoke of the mystery and the clarity. It is our walk in faith.
I know that God cares about me. I just have to be still and listen, that is my
challange in 2010. Psalm 46:10
If I were able to keep God at the center, rather than other things, I think I would be happy just "being".
I would be constantly smiling ........and singing!