I drove up to the window at the bank to deposit my check and instead of being asked for my account numbers, my driver's license, my fingerprints, and the maiden name of my ninth cousin twice removed, I was greeted with, "Hey! You got your hair cut. It looks cute." It was a great experience of the advantages of small town community banking.
A few years ago, I was asked why I like rural ministry. I love the advantages of small town, rural life. And I love the commute. I may drive an hour or more to a meeting (or sometimes between churches) but instead of doing it in bumper-to-bumper traffic, eating exhaust fumes, I get to spend the time watching the changing seasons and sights of creation all around me.
Here's another way to put it: while I'm driving to work, I get to see sights that most people only get to see after working 50 weeks of the year to earn their vacation. I see the changing foliage, wildflowers, the full colors of autumn trees, and the fields from first growth through harvest. I've seen double and triple rainbows, funnel clouds, and Technicolor sunsets. I have seen all kinds of wildlife from eagles and hawks and great horned owls to deer and elk, bobcats, and even a cougar that ran alongside the car before veering off the road into the field.
I was on my way to worship early one morning when I saw the cougar. At first I thought I saw a deer or a large dog ahead of me on the other side of the road so I started slowing way down. But it came out of the ditch and loped onto the road and towards me and then by the car before it took off into the field and disappeared. I was struck not only by its power and beauty but also how big it looked up close and free versus seeing big cats at the zoo.
Now I know that everybody doesn't have a commute like mine, but I still encourage you to look around you as you ride, or bike, or walk. The secret to seeing creation in a way that fills your soul, is to be open to seeing and appreciating what is around us. Sometimes we get to see the kinds of beauty that would fill calendar pages but if we only look for mountain scenes and big sky sunset views, we miss the smaller gauge wonders that are all around us in our daily lives.
God's eye not only paints the kind of scenes that fill the horizon but also in works in miniature. If we aren't looking, we may miss the miracles of butterflies, a tiny hummingbird, a spider's web, or the mushrooms that sprout only after a good rain. We tend to think of God in words of the hymn "How Great Thou Art" all mighty thunder and power but God's love and power are just as much in the smallest things of life.
In fact Jesus teaches us that God watches over creation from a sparrow to even counting the hairs on our head. God's love and creative powers are at work even in the smallest wonders, even the tiniest, briefest pieces of the universe found inside atoms. All of creation, all particles, are God's particles.
When it comes to seeing beauty in the world around you, binoculars and a camera can be good tools to take along but also take along your faith. Nourish it with prayer and some bible reading (such as Genesis 1, Psalm 8, Job 38-39). Open your heart to open your eyes to see the people and the world around you not through the filter of yourself but as glimpses into the love and wonder of God. Read Luke 12:4-7.
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