The planetarium. 4th grade field trip.
It is a rather incredible thing to sit and watch the earth spin right in front of my eyes. Wow. So perfectly crafted.
He wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
He makes winds his messengers, [a]
flames of fire his servants.
He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
- Psalm 104:
Then have the perspective of earth's size shifted as I behold our galaxy. Beautiful. So beautiful.
But wait, look at all these galaxies. And realize I can't even see ours anymore.
Vast. I can't conceive of how big it is.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place
- Psalm 8:3
Uncharted territory. Beyond comprehension, really.
But not for the One who made them.
He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.
- Psalm 147:4
Each star is named. Counted. It matters.
By a Creator who is Uncreated.
The One who is and was and will be.
Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
- Psalm 90:2
It takes my breath away. Makes me feel so very small. Tiny, and almost insignificant.
Except that thought is not the truth.
Because God says otherwise. And that is why.
Why do I matter? Why does Emma Kate matter? What does God say about me? More than that, what does the Lord of Lords say about my precious daughter? About all my dear children?
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
- Psalm 139: 14-16
They matter. They were created with intention and purpose. For just this time and place. For good works which were prepared in advance...for them. They have a call, each one of them, on their lives. They are the Lord's and He has plans that only they can do to advance His kingdom. Their faithful response to Him matters. And He adores them!
In Emma Kate's adoption, we see God's beautiful picture of adoption into His family for all of us.
Walking through adoption has made these verses, these truths, so real to me. I "get it" in a way I didn't before.
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
- Ephesians 1:4-6
Me. Jim. Cooper. Jeb. Luke. Anna. Emma.
Adopted.
Chosen.
Grafted in.
Heirs to the covenant.
Children of God.
Belonging to the King.
Daughters and Sons.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ,
might be for the praise of his glory.
- Ephesians 1:11
Oh, today, with eleven days left, I rejoice that Emma Kate belongs to the King. That she is His beloved. That in Him she is called, chosen, predestined to belong to the One, adopted into His family. I rejoice that those same things hold true for me. For all my children. That they are meant for any of us who trust in Christ.
Vast and majestic.
Yet, even the sparrow has a place before the throne.
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