“When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place— what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?”
Psalms 8:3-4
We took advantage of the warm evening.
Down to the ‘dugout’ we went. A dugout is, in prairie terms, a place dug out of the ground designed to catch water in the form of runoff in the spring. After snow melts, it inevitably looks for lower ground – and gathers in rivulets and creeks, drainage channels and dugouts carved out of clay for the purpose of collection.
It’s a peaceful spot. A place for contemplation, for reverie and quiet companionship. After a man evening meal roasted over the fire, we were delighted to watch the sun set.
There was not a ripple on the surface of the water – and not a ripple in the expanse above. It was a lovely watercolour sky, the kind that an instructor would be proud of in a student who was able to achieve so smoothly graded and seamlessly blended a result.
A watercolour sky makes one think big thoughts.
I feel an affinity for the poet David. I imagine him settling in to a secure camp on a hillside in Judea, playing a harp by the glowing coals of a supper fire. His belly is pleasantly full. The setting sun is producing that watercolour sky. Between the embers and the stars twinkling, the big thoughts stir and take shape.
‘Why do you even care about us down here, God? Your creation’s beauty demonstrates Your advanced mind, Your power, Your excellence. How is it that One such as You could care for one such as me?’
And he waxes poetic, penning words which would be handed down the generations and millennia, to land on a night such as this one.
How grateful I am, by this fire beneath a watercolour sky.
How grateful I am to have been chosen, seen, treasured, and pursued by a God who paints like that.
My heart stirs. It is full of worship, full of gratitude and warmth. I feel the weighty import of these big thoughts.
It is good just to be, on a night like this one.
Feel the care and love of a creative God with me?
Father, I love Your sky. I love how beautifully rich and diverse Your sky paintings are. I love the fact that Your vastness, Your artistic flair, and Your goodness are evident in a sky like this. Thank You for demonstrating Your faithful care in all You have made. Amen.
Growing in Grace 