At church this weekend my pastor spoke from Psalm 139. This sermon was actually part of a series concentrating on how overwhelming God’s love is for us, a topic making this Psalm a longtime favorite of mine.
As usual, my pastor’s take was insightful and unique. He cited a story told by astronaut and engineer Jim Irwin. Evidently Colonel Irwin had been raised in a Christian home, but it wasn’t until actually walking on the surface of the moon that he became personally aware of the presence of God in his life. Colonel Irwin is quoted as saying he sensed an overwhelming delight that comes with the presence of God—something he felt the entire time he worked on the moon.
I obviously have no clue what it’s like to walk on the moon, since only a dozen men have done so (and with the closing of the space program it doesn’t appear that number will grow any time soon). What must it have been like to have all of their knowledge and training, preparation and hard work find fruition in a successful endeavor that the whole world would watch and learn from?
Colonel Irwin was one part of the team, but from the moment he stepped foot on our moon’s surface he was nearly overwhelmed by a sense of delight so profound he felt it could come only in God’s presence. As it says in the Psalm, if we go up to the heavens (into space), God is there. There is no place in heaven or on earth where we can be separated from the presence of God.
It’s sensing God’s presence in delight which resonates with me, and should sound at least a little familiar to anyone who has found what God wired them to do and is able to do it. I believe that in God’s extraordinary love for us, He gives each of us gifts from the day we’re born. Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, we’re not always able to tap into them. Life’s challenges can get in the way.
But for others, and I count myself among this blessed group, we either intentionally uncover or stumble into learning what it was God wired us to do. For me, it’s writing. When I’m sitting at my computer and my fingers have a hard time keeping up with whatever happens in a story, I feel the presence of God in my delight. It’s the perfect blend of training, passion and something innate that makes it all come together in those moments. “Fun” really isn’t the word, although it is fun. It can be viewed as work, because at the end of the day I’m one of the cogs in a wheel that produces a product. But it’s not work in the classic sense of the word. To get to this point I’ve had to train, to withstand rejections of various kinds, to persevere when the future was anything but certain. But even with all of that, delight really is the perfect word to describe what creating a story feels like. Delight because in such moments I’m individually connecting to my Creator God, who approves of this work and gave it to me as a gift.
There are many things that point me not only to the existence of God, but to the love of God. Creation in all its variety and splendor is one of the most vivid examples of God’s love. Some experiential things have pointed me to God, too, not the least of which was the diagnosis of my Fragile X son. But as real as all of that is, when I’m doing what He put me on this earth to do I sense His presence on every bit as personal a level as when I look at creation and realize He made all this for me. For us.
So . . . as I start another week doing what I love to do, I just wanted to send out this little reminder to others. God delights in our delight. Every time we see something beautiful, every time we connect with love to those He sent to share our lives, every time we create something just because He gave us the ability to do so, we should be reminded of God’s delight in ours. Don’t let this day pass without remembering that.
Join Me!