Sue and I arrived in Fort Myers Beach in southwest Florida this evening for a week away celebrating our 33rd anniversary. We spent our honeymoon just a few hours north of here in 1980 and have been back to the area many times over the years. Our plane was a little late landing, and by the time we rented the car and drove to the beach, the sun was about to set. We rushed into the lobby of the small hotel on Estero Blvd., checked in, and — before we even went to our room — ran to the beach.
We turned the corner at the edge of the building and this is the sunset we encountered, the sky aflame with yellows, reds, oranges, and spotted with dark, ominous clouds. The world can take your breath away at times, as God knows well. So he keeps surprising us, even though we’ve perhaps sat and witnessed hundreds or thousands of sunrises and sunsets in our lives. When you think about it, there’s no reason for all this beauty, really, other than to amaze us, to make us a little weak in the knees and a little more aware of God’s grandeur and majesty. My mind went immediately to Gerard Manley Hopkins’ great poem:
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed.
And later in the poem…
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs –
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
Ask yourself in silence: When was the last time I was made weak in the knees by God’s grandeur?
* * *
I wrote about this same poem a few years back. I was first introduced to it back in college and it comes to mind whenever I find myself face to face with a sunset…
7 comments On Today’s Word: Grandeur
God’s Grandeur and Majesty : How humbling!
Anthony.
We watch and witness God’s creation here on earth with total awe and wonderment and bewilderment. Creations that man with all his technological wizardry cannot hope to emulate.
Perhaps it is HIS way of telling us, if we are already awestruck by what’s here on earth, can we begin to imagine how much more there will be in store for us in Heaven, if we but live a true Christian life?
Death, where is thy sting here on earth in anticipation of what lies in wait for us as promised by HIM?
God Bless,
Lily
Oh yes, Steve, Happy belated 33rd Wedding Anniversary. May the ‘showers’ of Blessing continue to ‘pitter-patter’ on you and your loved ones.
Lily
Happy Anniversary to you and Sue! What a beautiful picture Steve!
Have a great celebration and thanks for sharing the great photo and wonderful poem.
Steve
Happy 33rd to you and Sue….another sign of God’s grandeur
Gerry
Happy, Happy Anniversary to you and Sue, Steve! Such a blessing from God to have these years . . . this history together! May God bless you and your marriage in all ways, and enjoy your much needed (I am sure) respite.
These breathtaking pictures made me “weak in the knees!” Such glory! Oh the memories of all the beautiful and unique sunsets and sunrises! How good God is!
Kathleen