May Your Soul Feel Its Worth

Not just during this Christmas season, but all throughout the year it is important for our souls to know their worth. We need to know that we are loved by our Creator. I have found evidence of this as I wander. In fact, the reason I enjoy wandering about so much is that creation brings me closer to the Creator. God wants to be known. Whether I am walking around my neighborhood, or on a blustery boggy hillside in Scotland, I find evidence of God everywhere. I call this evidence Wonder and Awe. The things that make me stop and catch my breath are the things that draw me closer to the ineffable Mystery.

I am not sure when it started, or why, but every time I go walking or hiking I choose a rock (or sometimes two …or three). I have thousands of rocks all around my house. Feeling their smooth or rough surface, tumbling them about in the palm of my hand as I walk somehow grounds me. Collecting rocks remind me of the journeys I have taken. They make me feel connected to creation. They are small pieces of the places that I have been. Holding a piece of the earth gives me pleasure. God knows this about me.

God knows what delights us, what our passions are. God knows what nourishes our soul. God meets us as we engage in our passions. In these meetings we are struck with awe and wonder. When we open our soul to God, we are drawn into divine. This loving communion permeates our soul and affirms its worth. The more time spent being contemplative – open and willing to receive – the more often we will be awe struck with wonder.

It may seem a silly notion, finding wonder in picking up rocks, but that is what I experience. It delights me to find ‘love notes’ from God in the form of heart-shaped rocks. I glimpse God’s hand in placing rocks just where I can find them. We can spend much of our lives ignoring God or being too busy to notice God. That often leads to the shriveling of our souls and even the doubting of our worth. Better to spend each day looking for God, engaging in what delights our soul, and discovering just how much we are loved. May your soul feel its worth!

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!