The other day my wife and I planned to take our three year old daughter to the zoo, but before we left I read something in the newspaper that made me envious of a colleague. I prayed for forgiveness and help appreciating—“savoring” to use the language of a previous image—the many ways God has blessed me and off we went.
God answered that prayer on multiple levels, one of which could not have been more direct. We went into the aquarium to check out a floor to ceiling tank replicating a coral reef. My wife and daughter went right up against the glass while I stood back and took it all in.
At that point it hit me; God was giving me a smorgasbord of blessings. I had the pleasure of seeing my wife having a radiant time with our daughter, my daughter being gigglingly thrilled with what was before her, and the neon beauty of each of the many varieties of fish, all at one time. Like the offerings at a buffet, each of those things was independently succulent, but here they were all together, presented in a way that complimented each other. And, to top it off, God made it plain that this was His answer to my earlier prayer by calling it to mind at that moment.
I don’t have a grand point to make here, just a practical observation: God is incredibly faithful and richly generous. We simply need to turn to Him and look for his subtle, but stunning, blessings. "[H]ow extraordinarily great is the power that he has exercised for us believers; this accords with the strength of his power.” Ephesians 1:19 (New Jerusalem Bible).
Images addressing what we can learn about God from being parents were posted September 17b, 17b, and 17c; November 13, 15, and 24; December 2, 2004 and January 2, February 18, April 25, August 9 and October 3 2005.)
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