So a couple of days ago I went running at Town Lake. Well actually, it wasn’t really running as much as it was jogging for 2 minutes and walking for the next 10. (I haven’t worked out in a while, ok!)
As I was run-walking, I couldn’t help but be in awe at the beautiful creation God has given us Austinites. I’m from a small town outside of Lubbock, TX appropriately named Plainview. The name says it all; there isn’t much to there to write home about. Even though I’ve lived in Austin for almost 3 years now, big trees and tall skyscrapers still amaze this small town girl.
The beauty of God is evident all around us: in our friends, in our family, in our beautiful city. Now that it’s springtime, the flowers are blooming, the trees are green, and everything is alive again. It’s in this Easter season, amid all the new life, that God asks us to make new our love for Him.
But what really caught my attention as I was running were the tiny flowers along the trail. Think of how much care and love God put into making just one of those small flowers. God had to choose the exact color of every flower, the exact size of every petal, the exact amount of rain that flower would need to grow. But even though the making of that tiny flower is so complex, it’s beauty is so simple. All we have to do is glance and see the beauty of our God.
We as humans, with our talents, dreams and desires, are infinitely more complex than that one flower. We are made in the likeness of God, so how much more love and care has He lavished on every single one of us. That’s how much our God loves us. How amazing is that?
Think about the complexity of a God who made not only that tiny flower, but also the entire universe. He is so great and powerful and intricate that even if/when (hopefully!) we all go to Heaven, we will never be able to comprehend who He really is. But God’s purpose for us, like the beauty of that flower, is simple. All God wants from us is to love Him, follow Him and serve Him with all of our heart.
How do we do that? We love and serve God by loving and serving others, which can be anything from serving as an extraordinary minister to smiling at that homeless man on the Drag. We also love God and His Son Jesus through spending time with Him in daily Mass and adoration. All that God asks of us is to put love in everything we do.
“But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.” (John 10: 2-4)
