“I never knew there was so much green in the whole universe...” This line from Rey in The Force Awakens, and the look that Han Solo gives to her right after she said it was one of my arguments to my best friend as to why he must know who she is. It was a look of guilt. Since then my opinions have changed, and I’ve come to the conclusion that that look was not one of guilt, it was simply one of sadness for this girl, who found unbelievable beauty in something so ordinary for him. She couldn’t fathom it, it was beautiful to her, and he thought of it as a normal every-day thing.
But no, this post is not about Star Wars and who I think Rey is, though I could certainly go on for hours about that. So worry not my non-star-wars-loving friends. This is about something much bigger.
I had my own experience that was similar to Han’s when I went to Alaska and went for a hike with a couple from Denver and two boys from Ohio this summer.
After the most perfect day I could ever imagine, my friends and I settled at the top of a mountain to spend the night. It was towards the end of the summer, so the sun did go down eventually, around eleven o’clock that night, and the stars came out. And these two guys from Ohio were put in absolute awe. They had never seen so many stars... They didn’t even really know that there were that many stars out there. Me, being from a place where light pollution is not all that dominate, was not surprised by the stars, and while I thought they were beautiful, I did not really see it as something from God... until they forced me to remember how special a sky full of stars is, how much of a gift it is-that small look into how beautiful God is.
When I first got to Alaska the views literally made me cry... To look at mountains that looked like someone had photoshopped them and placed them right next to the building I was living in. To look at water that was crystal clear and filled with playful otters and sea lions and seals, and oh yeah, giant whales. To walk out on the gloomiest of days and still be able to see just how beautiful God had made this place... When I first got to Alaska everywhere I looked I could see Christ.
But by the end of my time there, three and a half months later, I was not quite as speechless, as astonished or humbled as I had been before. I did not walk out of my room every day and think to myself “The hands that made that, thought you were worth taking the time to make too. The creator that can move those mountains, walks with you every day. He made that for you.”
We lose sight of God in the things that become ordinary to us.
There is a never ending list of the blessings that God has poured out upon me that I either have forgotten isn’t a right to me (a bed to sleep in at night, food to eat, water to drink, clothes to wear, ways to communicate with my family and friends), or have found a way to complain about (warmth, water falling from the sky, schoolwork). I forget that these “simple” things are things that people in this world have literally killed for, and I get them with no struggle at all.
That’s God. And I miss Him in all of these things Every. Day.
My freshman year of college was rough for me, and I found myself asking God where He was on a regular basis. The answer is in everything good that was surrounding me. He is in the trees that give us air to breath and the grass that I love to lay in. He is in the friendships that have saved my life. He is in my friend’s dancing, their laughter, their music (think for a second about the fact that some people have never heard music... I do not know what I would do if I lost the ability to hear music). God is everywhere, He is in everything good, and we are surrounded by good things every day, sometimes we just have to remind ourselves of that.
I do not want to look at the life God has saturated with blessings every day and miss the most important part, because I am so used to it. I want to look around and see God and be thankful and joyful that my Lord is everywhere. That He chooses to give me things.
I do not want to lose the amazement that Rey, and those boys from Ohio had when they saw something beautiful for the first time, just because I am so blessed to be used to it.
Think about it like this for a moment, I know at least for me, when I see my best friends, even if I had just seen them an hour ago, I get so happy, and a smile almost always comes to my face. Even if I live with them and see them All. The. Time. I (almost) never get sick of their beauty or stop seeing it (which is another blessing from God). Obviously I have my bad days, and I apologize to those of you I have taken for granted and do not show you how special you are to me anymore. But I’m working on it.
Well I want to be like that with God. I want to be in awe of His beauty every time I see Him. I never want to take His glory and goodness for granted. I never want to lose sight of Him.
So I need to remember He is in everything good. He is in “ordinary” things that I take for granted, just as much as He is in amazing things.
And I hope you will too.
