Give God the Glory

It doesn’t take much to give God the glory. All we need do is stop. Be still. If we are outdoors, take a moment and look around. Creation is God’s handiwork. If we wonder how to give God the glory, begin with what is taking place right before our eyes. In other words, prior to giving God the glory we become aware of the landscape and the life swirling around in a creative dance where the creation is at work praising God, the Creator.

Awareness opens a necessary space. It provides breathing room. Awareness brings attention not to ourselves but the other. Photographers are well aware of this dynamic. I marvel at their discipline. Within their intrinsic self-control there is patience. Untold patience. Add to that, photographers carry a belief there is something, anything, one thing, out there, waiting to be captured on film. They are now in the dance of which they are engaged much like the focus taking shape within their camera lens. 

In a split-second, the picture is taken. As an example, my friend Bill Blodgett shared the snapshot of a swallowtail butterfly in Louisville, Kentucky. When is the last time you saw a swallowtail butterfly? My assumption is few of us are on the lookout for butterflies, much less even a smaller number of us are able to identify and name what is before our eyes. Bill can.

My point is not to denigrate those of us who can not get out and about. Wherever we are we can appreciate life, more especially, appreciate life with God. Yes, there is glory in the butterfly but give God the glory for the creation of life. Glory reveals God engaged, present and with-us. As an example, for those who are familiar with the Transfiguration, it marks for us a revelation which literally revealed to all who believe, Jesus as the Son of God. Here again, words like awareness, attention and appreciation, all circle around God’s only Son. With our own two eyes we see God in human form and the presence of Jesus with his words, actions, and willingness to give of himself which further encourages the necessary virtue of reverence.  Reverence evokes desire to give God glory with angels who praised God saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven” (Luke 2:14).

Notice how the Holy Spirit enters our world by penetrating our hearts and providing for us spiritual lives by leading and invoking within us the call to worship. Worship, as you may know, is derived from the same word as “worth” so as we worship, we are doing something worthwhile by giving God the glory, the worth, and the recognition for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, are holy.            

By our giving God the glory, be assured holiness of life is then reflected in our world, a world without end. A world carried not by a mythological Atlas who struggles under the weight of it all, but rather by the reality of grace, strength, and courage, floating to us like the wings of a butterfly, as we give glory to God.