In the Snow, Under the Stars
1/25/09 Insights from Prayer Most people, when they think of the vastness of the universe, come away with a feeling of smallness – smallness in our individual impact on creation and smallness in how little the universe impacts us. Our importance suddenly seems trivial, but so also the effect of the universe around us is negligible.
We here on Earth may just be a tiny example of intelligent beings compared to the total population of the universe. On the other hand, a Creator powerful enough to control such vastness is also powerful enough to deny life to all the universe except Earth. I shake my head in wonder when scientists talk about the “odds” of life elsewhere in the universe, because life is a decision by life’s Creator; having nothing to do with how it should appear as logical to us.
I contemplate the universe with the same feeling as everyone else, but after I reflect on the smallness of the individual I instantly recall my designation as a child of God. This God, so powerful that He understands the vastness of unlimited space and time, nevertheless agonizes over my pain, delights in my joy, winces at my sins and appreciates my adoration. No matter how small I am in the universe, I’m great in God’s eyes.
The other thing I take away from a contemplation of the universe is a recognition, given the awe of the unknown such a contemplation brings, of the wonderful familiarity of the part of God’s creation I can relate to. Under the huge canopy of stars, I reach down to scoop up a handful of fresh, clean snow. I’ll never grasp the make-up of the universe, but I can feel the snow cold against my face; I can taste its freshness and know that the snow, just as inconsequential in the universe as I am, is a gift to me from God. So is everything else I see and experience.
It’s because I’m valuable to God, no matter how small a space I take up in the universe, that I am the most important thing of all. Other planets in other galaxies may have snow, but this snow is important because it’s made for me, and I’m God’s child. Even if there are uncountable universes, uncountable planets, and uncountable people, no one is as important to God as I am, because God’s love is unlimited and fully offered.
