My Commute

I’m really blessed with my commuting route. I get on Miller road in down town Ann Arbor, and take it all the way to Dexter. It’s mostly woody with a farm that grows corn and pumpkin, and a few houses with amazing gardens. Every year, I’m overjoyed by the sight of trees coming back to life in brilliant green in spring, and wildflowers blooming everywhere in summer. And of course colors in fall are just breaths taking.

What is so special about all these natural beauty in my commute is that I get to experience them somewhat privately with God in my car. As much as I enjoy sharing them with somebody, there is something special in a way God touches me when I’m surrounded by His creations, alone. When the beauty of his creation overwhelms me, I can’t help but to lift up His name in praise. The reaction is automatic, and there is no effort involved on my part.

It is such a blessing, because I don’t take enough time to drop whatever I’m doing and just adore Him. Regardless of what else is going on in my life, commute happens everyday, and God utilizes that time to catch up with me; even though I’m not setting aside this time to dedicate only for Him. I shouldn’t use this as an excuse not to make an effort to set aside some time for God, but it is nice to remember that He pursues me. From the day one in our relationship, God was crazy about me before I became crazy about Him. But sometimes I buy into the lie that if I’m not trying my hardest to please Him, He would pull away from me. God has repeatedly dispelled that lie by reaching out to me, when I wasn’t reaching out to Him. Praise God for His love for me doesn’t depend on the level of my performance. I pray that I can always remember that and accept His unconditional love.

This blessing was especially apparent to me this morning. I had a very free night last night, without any thing or place I had to attend to (it’s very rare). So I thought I would spend some quality time with God, which hasn’t been happening much lately. But as soon as I got into bed, where I was going to read the Bible, etc, I fell asleep. I should’ve known better than to try doing devotion in my bed, but it was only 9:30 or so! Anyway, so I was feeling pretty inadequate about my spiritual life this morning. Then God kissed me good morning with His beautiful creations during my drive to work. We had a ton of snow yesterday and everything was covered with the magical white substance. The sun had not risen completely yet, but it was light enough out while I was driving. A soft shade of blue immersed the world, and the pearly full moon was shining in the middle of the blue gray sky. It looked surreally beautiful, framed by delicate branches of winter trees covered with snow frosting.

Everything was utterly perfect, and completely beyond my imagination. Though out of practice, I’m still an artist at heart, and I love it when I get in touch with God’s character as the master artist. When I looked at the each object in the scene separately, it was probably not the way I would’ve had them to be, had I had a control over them. But together, they composed an amazingly harmonious beauty. If the trees were in any lighter shade of brown, or sky was in any more crisp blue, they wouldn’t have produced such a balance of unity and contrast.

I realized that God often works in a similar way with events in our lives. Some events in my life were darker or less exciting than I wanted them to be. But I’d like to remember that these events are like small blobs of paints in God’s masterpiece, which is meant to be seen from a heavenly perspective.

Psalm 8

1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.

2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?