This past June, my husband and I took what we’ve deemed our “last hurrah.” We hopped on a plane, and then a train for a total of 18 days. It was something more like a European holiday than an American getaway. We traveled from East to West through the US and then a little South. We caught just a glimpse of this corner of the world & was it lovely!
Eventually, I need to get around to telling you the whole story, but a little sneak peak is what I’ve got for you today: The juxtaposition of seeing the awesome magnitude of God’s handiwork in the world, while considering the intimate engineering going on in my own body was breathtaking and consumed my mind for many hours staring out the train window.
If you missed my big announcement, make sure to check it out before reading on!
Traveling by train might sound like a monotonous way to travel, but it really gives you time to think and reflect. My thoughts seemed to play on repeat, wondering How can the same God that made these canyons, mountains, and deserts in all their glory to last for ages care so deeply? Why does he take such interest and care in forming the delicate fingers, eyelids—every extravagant part of my baby who is only here for a breath?
A few weeks ago, I talked about our first ultrasound. I said that it was as close to being on Holy Ground as I ever felt. There were times during this trip that I felt it again. I stared in amazement as we traveled through the Rockies, which turned into the deserts of Utah and Nevada, which soon faded into California—one of the most diverse and interesting parts of the country (in my book anyway). I wondered did God create this like a scientist? Like an artist? A literary genius? What was his intention, his theory, his system?
I so often try to make God look more and more like myself, I’ve always just assumed and molded Him into being a designer…which He is, but he is so incredibly much more—if I’d just let go of my Rachel-like image of God. I came to the conclusion that God is so much more than any of those options and He probably created this world, and this body, and everything else in all of the ways that he wanted to. I can just see it now: The voices of heavenly beings singing, the contrast of the first day and the first night—the stage being set. God, the chemist, saying just a bit more gravity, a little less heat from the sun… God the artist saying, just a few more rock layers in a few more colors—a couple more thousand years should do. God, the amazer, saying let’s make some really huge trees and blow their socks off. I know that my limited mind can only handle a God with a few mindsets, but I’m sure there were and still are, an eternity’s worth: God the foodie, God the traveler, God the musician, God the engineer, God the doctor.
What are some of your most awe-inspiring experiences? Where were you? What did you see? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!