Marvel

Marvel

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

BUMPING GENTLY up the side of the mountain in the gondola, I swung my gaze to the side to gauge our current height, my stomach dropping as I registered how small the parking lot appeared below. We were in Banff for a work conference, but a break in the schedule meant that we had the day free to explore the countryside.

Arriving at the top of Sulphur Mountain, we walked outside to breathtaking views. Fluffy clouds kissed the tops of mountains that surrounded us on all sides, casting shadows on lush green forests and hillsides. Turquoise rivers wound through the valleys below, while the city of Banff looked miniature in the distance. Taken together, the view could have been a movie backdrop or maybe a painting, too perfect to be real. But the relentless stiff breeze and hot sun warming my skin reminded me that it was, in fact, real. As I inhaled a deep breath to take it in, all I could do was marvel.

All too easily, we can get caught up in the mundane details of our lives. Wake, eat breakfast, work, make dinner, watch TV, go to bed—the routine can seem an endless Groundhog Day that leaves us feeling flat and restless. Caught up in our humdrum habits, our focus turns inward, worrying about finances, appointments, emails we need to return, and mounting responsibilities that suck our time and energy. Unfortunately, the breathtaking, top-of-the-mountain moments can feel few and far between. But what if we took the time to really look at the intricacy of the big and small details of our lives each day? What if we took a closer look at the way the sun-dappled light shines down through a cluster of trees, the shiny shell of a ladybug wandering by, the way our breath moves effortlessly in and out of our bodies? All of these are small miracles, marvels of the world created by our Father God. Choosing to see the everyday marvels in our lives is the first step toward appreciating them in a new way.

Lord, help us see the world around us with new eyes. Amen.

-Kristin

One Good Step: Find one thing in the world around you to marvel at.