An Eagle in the Morning and Stars at Night

I've been trying to pay better attention to the ways the Lord reveals Himself to me in my daily life. This is what happened today.

This morning, I was out walking down the road that runs east/west past our house. I was talking to the Lord about the ongoing struggle of dealing with the same weaknesses over and over. Was I complaining just a little? Well, maybe. I looked up and directly overhead was a lone eagle soaring on the wind, heading north toward the creek. I watched him as he flew effortlessly and wondered what it would be like to be able to join him up there and experience the freedom and distance from all that troubles us who are earthbound here on the ground. Immediately, Isaiah 40:31 came to mind, a very familiar verse to all of us, but a reminder I needed to hear this morning.

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not get weary; they shall walk and not faint.

There was enough help and hope in those words to keep my on course, to silence my complaints, to speed me on in pursuit of walking with God. I am listening, Lord.

Then tonight, I went out to feed the dogs after dark, and as they always do when it is clear, the stars drew my gaze to the heavens. I love to look at the stars. The absolute best place to look at them is from the top of a mountain in the desert where the air is thin and very, very clear. They are overwhelmingly awesome from there. But, I was here at home on flat ground and they were still awesome. I can never look at them without thinking about the words to an old Phil Keaggy song:

Look at the stars, Abraham and believe I AM. Can you count stars, Abraham, or the grains of sand?........

The point of the song is that the number of the stars is like the number of the children of Abraham, and I am one because I am in Christ. He is faithful to His promises, even those given so long ago to Abraham. I am one proof of His promise-keeping faithfulness. God knows my name. He knew I would be His on that night long ago when Abraham stood in the desert night and chose to believe the vastness of God's promise to him.

God's love speaks in so many ways. I want my heart to be open to hear Him more and more clearly as the days go by.