by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Enjoying God’s Blessngs!

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121:1-2 English Standard Version

How long does it take for a person to learn the skill of looking down at their phone? My guess is that it doesn’t take long. Children play with their parents’ phones at a young age, and seem to become electronic wizards faster than they learn to read.

Yet, when I look at this picture, I wonder who it is that is having more fun? Who is seeing the blessing of the sunset? Who sees the beauty of the Creator’s work? I doubt that the two young people pushing and pulling their parents down the beach were conscious of the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed. I don’t think they were saying to themselves, “I believe in God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,” but they were enjoying the reality of that confession.

It is likely that the pilgrims on their way to the temple in Jerusalem sang psalm 121 as they ascended to the center of their worship. Looking up to the temple hill they would declare that their help came from the Lord, the One who called not only that hill, but all of creation, even the universe, into existence.

It time for us to look up again and remind ourselves that we believe in a powerful God who creates the fall leaves, the pounding oceans, and the towering mountains. It is this same God who enters his creation to bless humanity with the grace of forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. It is this same God who walks with us in the valleys and on the mountains.

I must admit that I am more like these parents than the children. I bury my head in my phone every day. Maybe it’s time to remember that it’s a phone, not the savior of the world. There is only one of those and he transcends our binary world.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado