God is in the details... and in the big picture

I love a beautiful view. I think most people do. I find when I’m hiking and I meet other hikers coming from the other direction they are always quick to mention if there is a great view ahead. I have so many pictures of Lydia and me standing on a ledge or a clearing looking out over valleys, lakes, rivers, more mountains rolling off in the distance…. Beautiful, breathtaking views.

So I was intrigued recently with a picture. We were hiking at a park not far from home with our friend Heather. This time we were hiking specifically to look at wildflowers and identify them. We started off slow, real slow. There were so many flowers! We’re walking along, looking down so as not to miss any. Lydia had her new wildflower book and was searching for names as we came upon new flowers. I was snapping pictures as we found them. It was really fun.

I happened to glance up and noticed… wow! What a beautiful view. I looked back at Lydia and Heather, intent upon finding the name to a new flower, and called them to look up. The whole situation struck me as so profound, I told them to just keep working and I snapped a picture of it.

It’s my life! I know God has the big picture. I know he has the future covered, it’s in good… no great hands. He knows the plan and where I’m going. What I can’t figure out is… where am I now? What am I supposed to be doing right now? It’s those details. Lydia has graduated, so I’m out of a job after 14 years of homeschooling. I haven’t really found my place in my community or church. I feel like I have so much to offer, I just don’t know what God wants me to do with it. I keep looking at the details, studying it… but so far, I haven’t figured out much.

Meanwhile, God still has that big picture under control. It’s there, I can look up and see it at anytime. So I just keep reading the book, looking for the details.