Observing God's Glory

When I was younger, my family was used to seeing me with a camera around my neck. I love to take pictures. I have photo albums filled with baby pictures of my grandchildren, my grandchildren showing lambs, of my grandchildren playing soccer, football, basketball, baseball, softball, swimming, cheerleading, running cross country, running track, playing volleyball, graduating preschool, singing in the choir, playing the violin, playing the cello, graduating high school...

There are more than 30 huge albums of photographs in my office and more downstairs. Can you imagine how heavy the boxes were when we moved from our acreage in Marshalltown to Ankeny?! Since about 2012, I began to save photos digitally and soon after I quit getting prints made of all the pictures I took. Now my computer and the cloud hold my images. I no longer use my big, heavy, expensive camera. It has been replaced by my iPhone's camera.

One of my favorite things to photograph (besides grandchildren) is nature. Flowers, trees, mountains, lakes, streams, waterfalls, sunrises, sunsets, and did I mention flowers? God's glory is expressed in all of nature. I am in awe of His designs, His colors, His creativity! One of my devotionals suggested taking a photo of gratitude everyday. What a wonderful idea! We are surrounded by reasons to be thankful every day.

"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise... When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8:1-9 NIV).

Thank You God! For all the beauty that surrounds us. Help us to pause and consider Your greatness in all things: babies to adults, flowers to trees, streams to oceans, the sun to the stars! In all things we celebrate and give thanks for Your amazing creation. Open our eyes to Your glory and fill our hearts with Your love. You alone are majestic and we praise You!  Amen.