Psalm 8
There are moments – often unexpected – when something stops us in our tracks.
A pink-streaked sunrise peeking through the blinds. The echo of a loon call across still water. The quiet hush that falls over a starlit night. And in those moments, without even trying, we breathe differently.
- When was the last time something in nature made you pause – really pause?
Psalm 8 begins and ends with praise: “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” And tucked in between the praise is a deep sense of awe. The psalmist looks up at the moon and stars and asks, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them?”
It’s the kind of question that doesn’t need an answer, just space to settle in the soul.
- How does it feel to be reminded that God is mindful of you?
There’s a sacredness in allowing ourselves to be small – not insignificant, but small in the way that a child is small in the arms of someone they trust. When we stop long enough to pay attention to the beauty around us, we’re reminded that we are part of something vast, intricate, and pulsing with the presence of God.
- What happens in you when you allow yourself to feel small, without fear, without pressure?
But wonder takes time. It rarely arrives in a rush. It asks us to slow down. To notice. To listen.
So here’s an invitation this week: Take five minutes – just five – and step outside. Look up. Look around. Let yourself be amazed.
- What might God be saying to you, not in words, but through the beauty of the world around you?
You don’t have to solve anything. You don’t have to accomplish anything. Just stand in it. Let wonder hold you.
🌱 A Few Questions to Carry With You
- Where is awe waiting for me in the ordinary?
- How can I become more present to the sacredness of creation?
- What practices help me stay open to wonder, rather than rush past it?
Let’s pray:
A Prayer of Wonder
God of starlit skies and whispered winds,
You speak through the beauty of the world around us:
in moonlight, in birdsong,
in the stillness of a moment we didn’t know we needed.
Slow our steps this week.
Open our eyes to the sacred in the ordinary.
Help us to stand in awe,
to breathe deeply,
and to remember that we are held,
not because we are mighty,
but because You are mindful.
With wonder and gratitude,
Amen.
