Week 39: Day 5
In our final Orbit of the week, Beth looks at how a daily walk can help us connect with God's creation.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
Intro: Hello, welcome to Orbit. If this is your first time joining us this week my name is Beth and this is our last Orbit together. I’ve loved it and I hope you have too. The hope of Orbit is to encourage you to live with God at the centre of your life. We’ve been looking at Mark all week, but today we are looking at Psalm 8:3-8
Bible:
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
Thoughts: Something that I started in lockdown and have tried to keep up most days is a daily walk. How good were those few minutes a day, that we could take outside having a walk, or doing some other exercise. I am not an outdoorsy person at all! I’d much rather be warm inside with a hot drink and a constant supply of Wi-Fi and TV. Being in lockdown, trapped in my house gave me a whole new appreciation of being outdoors, which is something I never thought I would say. Trying to have a walk daily helps me in so many ways, it helps me to clear my mind. There’s a Latin phrase ‘solvitur ambulando’ which means ‘it is solved by walking’. I have found this to be true often, it helps me to be present by taking in the ground under my feet and the changes in weather, and it forces me to take in creation.
This psalm feels like taking a walk to me, it draws our attention to all creation, to the moon and stars, the birds in the sky and all kinds of animals. What my daily walk does for me, a bit like this psalm does, is it gives me a whole new appreciation of the nature around me and how purposefully it has been created. What I sometimes forget as my feet pound the floor and my hands get numb from the cold, is that so am I. The psalm tells us that creation is incredible, but that we, human beings are the pinnacle of creation. That we have been crowned with glory and honour and that you may think that your dog is the best creation in the whole world, which I defiantly do about my dog Gus, but you are created a little lower than the angels.
Prayer:
Challenge: Take some time to be present with yourself and pick something about you, it could be your eyes, or fingernails or how you laugh. Say to yourself, ‘my eyes were purposefully made and I am loved’, or ‘my fingernails were purposefully made and I am loved’.