Yesterday I walked to our local shop to buy some milk. It’s a 5 minute walk usually, but I went with my daughter who is 18 months old and is learning to walk, so it took a fair deal longer than normal. The journey there was pretty uneventful apart from a near miss with some dog poo, and the way back was fine apart from the numerous times she stopped, to look at something or have a rest, once to throw her hat on the floor(!) and sometimes (so it seemed to me) just for the sake of it.
One of the times when Zoe stopped turned out to be a real ‘God moment’ for me. She pointed upwards, and when I followed her finger I noticed she was pointing at a street light directly above us. The light wasn’t on yet, but something about it fascinated her, maybe because it was quite a bit taller than her. Then I noticed a plane flying in the sky tens of thousands of feet above that, and showed it to Zoe. My mind then went to what was above the plane that I couldn’t see – stars, planets etc, and then I returned to watching the plane and the vapour trails it made. After that I looked down, back at the lamp, back at the street, and had a new-found moment of clarity on how small I am in the grand scheme of things. I am a dot on this earth, let alone this universe.
If I am so small, WHO AM I that God would love me? Who am I that God would care about little old me with my bottle of milk in my hand? Then I looked down at the little girl holding my other hand. Thankfully God loves her too, and longs for her to know him as Father God also. I am grateful that I don’t need to understand how everything was made or how everything works, I just need to trust in the goodness of my heavenly Father. With him, there is always hope and he always cares, no matter how small or insignificant you or I feel. For that we have to praise him.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
Psalm 8:3-4
Who Am I?
Who am I, that the lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the bright and morning star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart? © Casting Crowns, 2004
Click here to listen to the song, Who Am I?
Matt is an Inspire Missioner based in Chesterfield, UK. When he isn’t out having God moments on the way back from the shops, he co-directs Inspire in Great Britain. He is also Dean of the Inspire School of Discipleship
