DON'T MISS THE WONDER!

DON'T MISS THE WONDER!

David and I have had the blessing of traveling quite a bit this summer.  We began our journeys by traveling to New York and Canada to see Niagara Falls.  It had been on my “bucket list” for a long time.  Then a couple of weeks later, we headed off on an adventure at the top of David’s list: an Alaskan cruise.  The sights we beheld were really mostly beyond description.  The beauty and magnitude of God’s creation is so far beyond what we could design if we tried.  We truly saw things we had never seen before. It was all brand new to us.  If you know my husband, you will know that he is really a very sensitive kind of guy and many times during our journey, he was moved to tears over what he was witnessing.  Most of the pictures I took were of his back as he gazed out from the balcony of our cabin.  I was moved to tears watching him have a dream fulfilled.  We didn’t take a lot of pictures, choosing instead to just enjoy the sights. 

During the trips, I began to notice the strangest thing.   Most everyone was constantly using their cameras on their phones.  They would take a picture and then move on to find something else to fill their view finder.  They missed the magnitude of the wonder because they only saw what was featured in their camera lens.  Very few took the time to see the picture as a whole rather than just a snippet of the picture.  Every meal was recorded on their camera; every encounter qualified as a subject for a selfie. The most common interaction between parents and children were posing for pictures.

I am such a people watcher and these trips made for great entertainment for me.  I noticed that once the incident was recorded on their phones, they then spent the rest of their time on the phone.  I suppose they were uploading the pictures to social media and the like.  I do know that very few enjoyed the people, sounds and wonders around them because they were too busy staring at a small screen they held in their hand.  Most failed to engage with those that were just featured in their important selfie.

I think perhaps I’m guilty of the same thing in my spiritual life.  I’m so caught up with this small circumstance that seems so huge to me, that I miss the new thing and the big thing God is doing in my world.  I’m so distracted by the puddle in front of me that I fail to see the river he is parting for my next adventure.  I’m so fearful by nature that I must be drug kicking and screaming through the wilderness to get to the valley of blessing just around the corner!

Let’s all agree to stop focusing on our small stuff and not miss the wonder of what He is doing in our life.  

j