Today, I watched the sunrise, but I could tell I wasn't getting the best view, so I walked to the window to see it more directly. A pilot had awakened early, probably in the middle of the night, driven to the airport, fired up his plane with all that metal and all those buttons, and had flown right through the middle of the sunrise. He left behind a thick ribbon of exhaust. For all I knew, he was back on the ground already.
Orders, shipments, post offices, PayPal, emails, processing, websites, blog entries, followers, giveaways...it's so human. It's so metal. It's so logistical.
The message I'm trying to convey with my children's picture book starts and ends with God himself. It's so spiritual. It's so felt. It's so eternal.
My own self is the place where the spiritual and logistical meet and I'm a mixed-up mess on the matter.
How do I keep from getting so logistical that I forget where God met me earlier today?
How do I keep from getting so heart-focused that I lose addresses and miss orders?
This very morning, I was praying this very prayer and then the sun started to rise and the pilot was flying his plane and I walked to the window and there, before my eyes in a moment, no - less than a moment...there was my answer.
The exhaust was just exhaust except, it took my breath away because the not-quite-risen sun blew it up with color and life! It ignited what was otherwise just smoke and made it art that brought glory to God.
The pilot awoke at 4:00 AM and drove and unlocked and buckled and connected and blasted-off and communicated and flew. And he left behind exhaust.
Right now, I'm checking and ordering and writing and shipping and connecting and photographing and delivering. And I'm leaving it all exhausted.
But the prayer is that God will take all my logistical actions and blow them up with his life and color and Spirit and joy, and that it will bring glory to him!
And so, I do the next thing...all glory to God!