just reflections

Max & I go for walks every day. It's a tricky thing to find something that a four-month old enjoys doing for any period of time. But walks are magical, and entertain him for as long as I'm willing to push him around town! So rain or shine, we're out walking. (Today we walked down to fremont to Dusty Strings, an acoustic instrument store...got the kiddo a $2 maraca that he clutched & shook the whole way home :)

Walking back along the burke-gilman trail this late afternoon, I looked across lake union at all of the houses facing west...

this picture isnt doing the view justice...it looked like all of the houses had fires blazing inside, every window and shiny surface burning bright orange. It spoke volumes about what kind of killer sunset was happening on the opposite horizon, so I spun around to catch sight of what was sure to be an amazing setting sun.

And I was so disappointed to see nothing but a grey sky in the west. What the heck? I looked back at the houses, red hot and aflame. Looking west, nothing! Maybe Queen Anne hill was in the way, I'm not really sure. I just know how disappointed I was, having to settle for looking at fiery houses instead of the sunset itself. It was still beautiful, just not the real thing.

And I don't mean to spiritually analyze everything nowadays... but this one was too big to pass up. I could not help but think that it was a perfect analogy for life. I think of all the wonders in life, the beauty in nature & perfection in human form. The things that we stop and stare at...for me it was always the enormously starry sky at summer camp, where we would lose count of all the shooting stars we'd see. The awe of holding the baby that grew inside me, world wonders...natural and man made....all of these things that dazzle us with beauty.

I was just reminded in a very visible way this afternoon how ALL of those things are only reflections...blurry and second-rate representations of the SOURCE OF IT ALL. We marvel and even worship the things in the earth, that are truly just pointing to the One who created it all. But like the grey sky I saw in the west, we aren't able to see the source that is setting the world ablaze with beauty. Not yet. God chooses to remain hidden, waiting for a time that only He knows...and in our impatience, we turn our eyes back to the things around us and forget about One who is greater.

maybe we can stand in awe of the beauty we live amongst, while always living in anticipation to see the source and origin of all beauty. I challenge you with that.