Spiders and Rainbows

I had heard people say that having a child renews your sense of wonder. The way she watches a single ant for twenty minutes. His excitement at seeing an elephant in the clouds.

But I hadn't anticipated all that giving way to the most euphoric sense of awe at what the Lord not only can make, but spent the first half of eternity making for His children. To show His love for us. To communicate His invisible existence.

I used to dread spiders. Loathe them. Lose sleep over them. They still freak me out, but now when I see one of those strange creatures, I hope it's not the kind I have to kill. Even the brown widow spider praises her Creator with her grace and beauty as she glides down to the ground before I smack her with a sandal. (I'd leave her alone on a hike, but on my kids' fort, she's toast.)

I've always seen rainbows and thought, how beautiful. But now I see in them God's promise. Yes, not to flood the entire earth again, but more than that. All His promises. The promise of the unfathomable beauty and peace of what comes next. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." That rainbow, that inexplicable, hazy display of the beauty of light, gives me a blurry glimpse of Paradise. "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face."

When we open our eyes to the glory around us, the perfect warmth and blinding light of our sun, the impossible softness of an alpaca, the unfathomable size and mystery of the universe, the unique brilliance of a snowflake (seriously, NO two are alike!?)... we cannot help but overflow with praise.

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