Silvery Dragonfly

One afternoon this dragonfly sat for about ten minutes along the top of our bird feeder.  Sunshine glinted off the black metal turning it into a glowing silver rod.  The same sunlight glittered off the translucent wings of this elegant creature painting them with iridescent silver.  It looked like a shimmering work of art hung on a gallery wall.  The Great Artist, God Almighty, had done it again.  He'd blended simple items into a one of a kind masterpiece and given me the privilege of witnessing the brief moment in time that it existed.

How many times in our lives do we witness a masterpiece of God that exists for a brief moment in time?  Think sunsets and roses and fanciful clouds and a newborn baby's first hours in this world -- just to mention a few.  If we stop and think about it, we are privileged to witness many beautiful, brief moments -- but, how many times do we stop and savor that moment?  How often are we aware of how fleeting and special this thing is that God is giving us a glimpse of?

God tells us in His Word that we need to "have eyes to see and ears to hear."  The world is full of God's beauty and purpose -- it's all around us every day.  Too often, eyes develop a skim of worldly weariness and ears become dull to subtle sounds of heavenly music.  Guess we could say it's an occupational hazard of living on planet earth.  It doesn't have to be that way.

Let's open our eyes and our ears to what God offers us today.  And yes, I believe He offers us something of beauty each and every day.  We just too often miss it.  I read a story of a man who said he didn't believe in God.  He'd called out to God and ended with this: "If you're there, touch me."  A butterfly fluttered onto his shoulder and he flicked it away, saying, "I knew it - he's not there!"  The man did not have eyes to see and he missed a beautiful moment sent by the Almighty God of all creation.

Even though I'm speaking primarily of physical eyes and ears here, they must be driven by spiritual eyes and ears that see beyond what is in front of our faces and deeper into the heart of God.  He wants us to see Him moving in the world around us.  When we do that, we will develop a heart of joy and praise that will glorify our Father -- and that's what it's really all about!