Two years back, our Gray Hogs group crossed the Canadian border to snag Mick’s goal of seeing why Banff is such a big deal. We took a circuitous route to Radium Hot Springs just because a biker at a MT hotel told us off a rustic but inexpensive motel there, and then the motel keeper even took us to the hot springs in her car, so we wouldn’t have to ride back damp. Canadians are SO helpful. The hot water soothed some aching biker muscles, believe me. The next morning’s ride to Banff thrilled us despite the cold, and the city was nice. A bit overdeveloped, and we struggled to find a breakfast place, but with marvelous views in all directions.
That satisfied Mick, and we headed north to Lake Louise. Quite pretty but overcrowded, so we continued north with numerous stops to take in the stupendous scenery. Believe me, Alberta and British Columbia will strike you with wonder. Then we hit Bow Lake. Awestruck, we stared in silence. A huge stratified mountain bent at a 45-degree angle, with no fractures. You can see it above. Then as we walked a bit south to get a different view, I spotted a delicate flower and knelt down to take the other above pic. I came close to prostrating myself in worship. Not of the mountain or the flower, but the vastness of a God who could create both.
He created ongoing processes to heat and raise and bend that massive mountain. He created a flower of delicate beauty and fragility. We could have easily crushed it, his creation, by not noticing it as we walked. In my mood that morning, that could have verged on blasphemy.
What kind of a God is this? That mountain, so huge from our human perspective, is a minuscule portion of the earth. This earth, a small globe circling a small sun that is one of ten billion trillion. His power and wisdom overwhelm me. A God who loves beauty so much that he embeds it in a small flower, one dwarfed by us humans who were dwarfed by the mountain which was…Well, we could go on, but I suspect you get the picture.
I can love a God like this. I can serve a God like this. I can craft my life around a God like this. I hope you can too.
Kick Starting the Application
What best works for you to be aware of these attributes of God? I suspect that will differ for all of us, but we need to find our pathway to the sacredness of God. When you don’t focus on the ones that work for you, what impact does it have on your relationships with people? With God? With sin?
One last question, an unavoidable one. How can you do your part in caring for God’s creation?