Awe

 We came out of a turn on the hill to be greeted by a magnificent sky.  Billowy clouds glowed by the fiery light of the sun as it set.  The beauty of God’s creation left us in awe.  Left speechless, all we could do was stare, admire.

I had been listening to Brené Brown’s Atlas of the Heart, which explores 87 distinct emotions.  She defines awe as, “something that makes us feel small but also connected to others and everything around us.”  Awe is when you marvel at God’s creation and simultaneously feel thankful and unworthy.  Awe is when you grasp, just for a moment, that the same God who created beauty also gave us the faculties to appreciate it.  Awe is realizing that same God reached across the span of Heaven to earth and came in the form of a baby in a manger.

Many emotions are used to describe Christmas.  Certainly, there’s joy that our King is born.  With Him, we have hope, knowing what He came to accomplish.  For me, this season it’s awe.  The God of all creation came for me, came for you.  In the darkness of our despair, He came as the light.  Awe invokes a feeling of humility as we realize that we’re a small part of a big thing.  He, who is big, cares about me, who is infinitesimally insignificant.

Awe doesn’t diminish us.  The combination of God’s grandness and my unworthiness produces that awe.  Awe forces me to consider the possibility that there’s more to life than what I see.  The birth of Jesus tells me I’m loved and significant.  What troubles I may face is but a speck of dirt in God’s grand story.

Tonight, we’ll celebrate Christmas Eve with our church family.  I’ll stare in awe at the love that brought a little boy to be among us.  I’ll enjoy the assurance in knowing I’m part of His bigger story.