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Maker's Joy
by Lisa Holloway I was flying. Careening through the clear blue sky, cool breezes dancing through the tangles of my hair, I spread my arms wide and faced the open distance. I could smell the salt faintly in the air, and I looked down to the white foam capping the deepness caressed by ocean waves. Down below, a small white boat rose and fell with the swelling of the water. A man and a woman walked the deck coiling ropes and viewing the distant horizon, smiling the deep smiles of people satisfied with their existence, accepting all its hardships and joys. The sun shone on their faces. They inhaled the same salt air as I. Their open hearts accepted with gladness the Maker's creation. An infinitesimal speck upon the vastness of ocean, they knew their smallness, and it was good; there was still One large enough to hold the ocean in His hand. They felt His smile joining theirs in the piece of glory He'd set before them to experience in their journey. Dolphins leaped through the waves nearby, laughter and joy expressed in their every movement. Higher and higher they leaped, until it seemed they must also touch the glory of their Creator and sense that He designed them to rejoice in His presence and all He made for them. And through it all, the sunbeams shone down from Heaven, the fingers of God touching His creation above, just as He rocked the swells of the ocean to lullaby His creatures far below. Life teemed there, precious and filled with the purpose of their Maker, given into the hands of His people to guard and to wonder at the artistry of the Lord. My open arms embracing the wind reached out to all He had given me. I smiled along with the man and woman in the boat, reveling in the joys of lifework to strengthen me, hurts endured to teach me compassion, love that I may learn to both give and receive with grace and selflessness, a husband and children to know me in all my ugly moments and yet still, unbelievably, love mesomething small within my grasp that I may begin to understand an infinitely larger love. I felt my smallness in the midst of the water and the air that I could take in, but never contain, and exhaled a sigh of relief that I did not need to. A kind ray of sun stroked my face with gentle warmth, while fresh cool air filled my nostrils and lungs. The wings of a giant ray tipped on either side of the tiny boat below, briefly taking the weight of the hull on its back before gliding back into the salty coolness. I held to that moment of perfection, flying through the air, then felt it fade as I stirred into wakefulness. The dawn was beginning to break softly through the shades, and a single sweet ray of light touched my pillow. Lisa Holloway is a Christian freelance writer, as well as a copy editor and writer for Inspiration Networks. She has served with the U.S. Navy and USAID/OFDA, and has studied in India. She recently wrote four stories for the compilation "Can My Marriage Be Saved?" www.NewHorizonWriting.net Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |