I had the privilege last week to walk around the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon. I’m not talking simply about the normal pit stops along the way, I’m talking every stop and every trail of the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest and walking much of the rim trail at the canyon. It was breathtaking, to say the least. Never did I look at anything and think it was average. It was so miraculous, in fact, that I couldn’t even take it all in…it was so overwhelming. There was one thing that continually bothered me about these places, though. No matter how hard I tried to get a picture to capture the beauty, I couldn’t. I would take the picture and then realize, I missed something. There was another crevice I found that wasn’t quite captured in my picture. Believe me, I have about 700 pictures to prove my frustration! There’s nothing worse than having 700 pictures and feeling you just didn’t get the right one.

We sat one night in the canyon on a ledge without any barriers between us and the canyon. We were alone on a rock looking out at the sun setting in the distant. It was beautiful to watch as the sun changed the landscape’s coloring during the sunset. As the sun shone its light on different areas I would see the canyon in a whole new way. We had a peaceful view with a beautiful background but there was a lot of wind. So much so that our hats were no longer an option.  The wind also blew continually against the rock. There was also the water below that looked peaceful but in reality had helped to carve this expansive canyon. So in reality, I couldn’t truly get the right picture because there was so much more going on than I could even see with my own eyes.  How can you get a complete picture of something that is constantly changing and evolving?

All this thinking reminded me of who I was, too. Pretty tiny in the grand scheme of things. All around me was a canyon. It went on for miles and yet here I was. But, I was and am God’s creation. You are God’s creation, too. We can look at ourselves and others on the outside and all seems just fine. But, there are winds that blow and waters that surround us. These winds and waters of our lives form us into who we are and to who we are becoming! Isaiah 42:6-8, 23 says: “I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, and I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.  I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images. Who among you will give ear to this?  Who will give heed and listen hereafter?” (NASB)

I found it interesting that at three different places at the Grand Canyon there were signs with Scripture written upon them. Interesting because the beauty of this place could only be described as God’s doing. Not one person seemed bothered at all to read the sign and acknowledge God’s workmanship. Change is all around us no matter how peaceful it might appear. We were asked in verse 28, “Who among you will give ear to this? Who will give heed and listen hereafter?” God has called me. God has called you. He has called us to do great things and to live in righteousness. Don’t feel worthy of great change? Don’t care to let people know what’s going on in your lives? Well, God might be chipping away at your rock and stone with the waters and winds of your life to create a beautiful mountainside. A mountainside for others to admire and for them to acknowledge God’s workmanship. Some changes might be painful and it might feel as though we are all alone, but as we lift up our eyes from our own troubles and walk with others along the rim we will see the grandeur of God’s creation. We become another of His masterpieces. A human form of the Painted Desert or Grand Canyon, you might say.

© 2012 Susan M. Sims

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