Praise the Lord!
You are amazing, Lord God.
When I stop and actually look at what is before me, I am amazed. From this little garden spot in my backyard, I see small clusters of lavender flowers each one pushing up through the stem of the next as if one cluster gives birth to another cluster to another cluster, each reaching and stretching higher and higher on their thin, wispy stalk. I see of long bright red miniature trumpet flowers with their horns shooting out from the branches. I see small tight clusters of bright variegated flowers going from yellow in the very center to deep red on the outside peering up toward heaven. I see a few tiny blue flowers hiding among the leaves clinging tightly to their stems shyly displaying their beauty. I see a massive group of flowers that resemble miniature pineapples with the top stem in vibrant pink boldly exploding from small tightly gathered stems and leaves.
Lord, your amazing. Why all this color? Why all this uniqueness? Why all this variety? This is just a small section of your work. You have made each different simply for your glory. What is true of the flowers of the garden is also true of humanity. We reflects your ascetic beauty. All of us are unique and different. Each of us reflect your glory, bear your image. Lord, God, your image is so unique. Just I can recognize a flower as a flower, I can recognize your image reflecting in others. Just as one flower does not need to look like the other flower, one person does not need to look the same as everyone else, yet I still recognize your imprint of love, grace, mercy, patience, faithfulness, justice and a host of other qualities you exhibit in the lives of others. You are beautiful and amazing.
Lord, forgive us for corrupting your image. Forgive us for replacing your image with images of our own making. We want a god we can understand, so we create a god that resembles us, it reflects our fears, and enhances our thrills. It acts like us in our worse, therefore it is a scapegoat for us to blame when things go wrong. It enhances our thrills, so we must worship it in order to participate in its pleasure. We can’t explain the uniqueness and the complexity of your creation, so we dumb down our god to our own understanding and make everything the same. We are fools living in a foolish land, thinking we are wise and mighty. We have broken the first and second commandments (Ex 20:3-6). Forgive us Lord.
Help me Lord worship you, the Almighty God who parted the sea, who fed the thousands, who defeated death. Lord, God Almighty, may you be my God today. Give me strength face my fears, to “get up” and stop mourning over my rejection and your rejection and go anoint and empower others to accomplish what you have called them to do and be (1 Sam 16:1). Lord, help me reflect your beauty, so that the mature grow together with the new constantly changing and displaying your glory.
Amen