Praise The Lord, O My Soul

Last Spring, I walked around Jasmine Gardens in Wetumpka admiring all the blooming flowers, especially the azaleas which were in peak season. I was so moved by the beauty and color around me, I began to sing the "Gloria Patri" out loud in honor of my awesome Creator Father who made them.

Today I had a similar experience. I was walking around the McWane Science Center in Birmingham. I started on the ground floor in their World of Water. I stared in awe at the pike fish bobbing up and down, the seahorses with their tails curled around coral, the 2-foot hammerhead shark that let me stroke the top of his slimy body as he swam by and the moon jellyfish glowing bioluminescently as they gently and gracefully floated in the water. Then checking out the 13-foot turtle dinosaur skeleton, I stepped back in "Are-you-kidding-me?!" astonishment. Pictures of the Milky Way Galaxy brought reverent awe of Him.

I didn't burst into song this time. Instead my praise came in the form of tears. I was overwhelmed thinking how amazing my God is! Walking around the center I learned my God is brilliant, creative, powerful, precious and oh so loving ... especially when you consider He did this all for us.

About this same time, a friend of mine was eating lunch in the Space Needle in Seattle. She shot a picture from the location commenting on God's majesty in the creation of the snow-topped Cascade Mountains in the distance, above the clouds. Oh, how wonderful He is!

Two of my favorite passages in Scripture describe our Creator God in ways that always cause me to inhale deeply in an effort to draw in His fullness. One is all of Psalm 104 when the author describes what our Lord has created: "How many are your works. O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures" verse 24 says. The other is Job chapters 38-41 when God has his longest monologue in the Bible telling of all the things He has made. Like an epic movie at its climax, you can feel your heart beat faster and faster with each verse. Like Job, we cover our mouth and bow to the ground humbly.

Last Sunday morning, my Sunday School kids and I finally finished our "go through the entire Bible" study. It took us more than two years, but we did it. We ended the study with a look at Heaven as John describes it in Chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation with its walls and streets of gold, clear as glass, gemstone foundations and pearl gates. Wow, it's sparkly. I can hardly wait to see! No wonder the multitude sings "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almightly reigns! Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory!" (Rev. 19:6-7)

The more I thought about the Science Center, the more I realized it was misnamed. Everything about that place proclaimed the glory of God. It should be called the Creator Center, cause truly each room is almost as if God is saying, "Wait till you see what I've made!" I bet it makes God smile when we take a minute to stop, look at what He's done and say, if even under our breath, "That is so cool!"

"Yeah, it is!" I'm sure He's thinking, "Just wait till you get here! You ain't seen nothin' yet." Our God is an awesome God.

I sing with those in Heaven in Rev. 4:11: "You are worthy, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being." Thank you, Father.

Unhidden Treasure

I have a treasure box. It's a 9x5-inch wooden box from Lane given to me as a high school graduation gift from a furniture company in Pennsylvania. I think all of us graduates got one. I remember thinking that I would put all my most precious items in this box and lock it up. Recently when watching Pawn Stars on TV (we learn something historical everytime we watch this reality show about a pawn shop in Las Vegas), my husband and I wondered if we had anything old and of value that we could sell. I immediately dashed for my treasure box to see what was in there to make us independently wealthy.

Not surprisingly, I didn't find anything that was going to allow us to retire early. Elvis Presley 29-cent stamps (worth 29-cents each); Eisenhower silver dollars worth maybe $15; a Max Factor Easter Egg basket perfume holder (worth about $27 now); a jar of black sand from Hawaii my Dad's secretary brought home for me to see when I was in elementary school (worth, um, nothing); a piece of petrified wood; a tiny shoe button hook my grandmother used when she was 5-years-old; a 1943 silver penny (worth 15 cents now); a skeleton key and tiny 10K gold Victorian baby rings (that no one would put on a baby for fear they'd swallow it). It was fun to reminisce about the items, but needless to say, nothing in there to make our eyes pop open with greedy excitement.

It's funny what I thought was treasure. Polished rocks, the silver wings an American Airlines pilot gave me from my first flight, a huge costume locket from the 1970s with a mini picture of my family in there, tiny Avon lipstick testers from my grandma's days as an Avon Lady, the key to the city of Smyrna, TN, the late mayor Knox Ridley pulled out of his pocket to give me when he asked if I had one as a cub reporter in that city in the late 1980's and blocks I played with as a child. But I did find some priceless items in there. Like the picture of Brad holding me from behind with his hands on my pregnant belly with our firstborn Ayla growing inside. A prayer my father wrote for me. A note from the Tooth Fairy. A tiny gold pacifier I wore around my neck when pregnant with my son Anton.

Typically, I'm not a saver. If I don't use it, I toss it. Moving as often as Brad and I have, it's just not practical to be dragging a bunch of stuff you never look at around from house to house. But this box is one thing that I've held on to for whatever reason. I guess the idea of having a "treasure" box was just too cool sounding for me. Everything secretly hidden away.

Scripture tells us "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matt. 6:21. While pieces of my heart are in that box, what my heart holds cannot be contained in a tiny cedar box. The love I have for my Savior, won't fit in a treasure box and I certainly hope I don't hide it away like I have these trinkets. I hope what I feel for Christ, I share with the lost of this world. I hope they see the brilliant shine in my unveiled face to know how much I love Him. That is my true treasure.

I decided to take some things out of that box and actually use them, throw them away or sell them for what their value is today. If I have them locked up in a box, I wonder exactly how valuable they really are to me, when I can't even see them. I guess that's the point of our witness to God's children. If we are not sharing it, is it truly valuable to us? If no one can see your faith in your actions and words, then isn't, well, worthless?