Devotional 7-7-13

Feeling Insignificant – in a Good Way

 
Recently the congregation of Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church was blessed with a visit from a former pastor, David Johnson.  I always look forward to David’s sermons because he takes me down memory lane, reviews the lessons I was taught as a child, and then reminds me that I am breaking God’s heart with my disobedience. What really amazes me is that he makes me laugh and cry all the while. He has a way of making me feel insignificant – in a good way.
 
David shared a story about a hiking trip he took through the Appalachian Mountains when he was a young man.  I will not go into detail because I will probably get it wrong, and besides, it will not be as funny as when he told it. As he described the trip, we could imagine the endless trees, heavy backpacks, and blistered feet. Just when I was thinking, “I’m glad I wasn’t there,” he continued his story.  After he had put down the backpack and doctored his feet, he stepped away from the group into a clearing.  He drew in his breath as he surveyed the vista before him.  He said that at that moment he felt – insignificant – in a good way. As he admired all that God had created, he knew that he was a small part of the universe.  Insignificant, yes. Worthless, no.  The God who shaped the Appalachian Mountains was the same God who imagined, loved, and guided David Johnson.
 
As I listened to his story, I searched my recollections for a time when I felt particularly unimportant.  Those of you who know me know that I have never been accused of suffering from low self esteem, so this was no easy task.  Then I remembered.  I was twelve years old, traveling to Boise, Idaho, on the train. As I watched the sun set over the Rocky Mountains, I remember thinking to myself that the beauty I beheld at that moment was no accident.  And I felt insignificant – in a good way.  The God who had created all that I surveyed was the same God who had taken a moment to imagine, love, and guide me.
 
I’m not saying that the twelve-year-old Becky Wright suddenly became the perfect child.  There wasn’t a sunset long enough for that. But somewhere in my mind I tucked away the realization that I was part of something big, and that, maybe even more than my parents, kept me going back to church to learn more about that God.
 
Have you had a similar experience?  It may not have included sunsets in the Rockies, hiking trips in the Appalachians, or a cruise on one of the vast oceans.  It simply would have been a time when you knew God was there, and you were lucky to be there, too, no matter how insignificant it made you feel.
 
Please sing the following hymn as a devotional prayer.
 
“How Great Thou Art” by Stuart Hine   p.77 in The United Methodist Hymnal
 
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee;
how great thou art, how great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee;
how great thou art, how great thou art!

Becky Warren