During a walk through the picturesque Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, our attention was diverted from the huge, majestic, sandstone rocks toward two people wearing homemade robot suits. The park was thronged with summer tourists who immediately began taking pictures of the robots while their children gathered round to touch and talk to them. Folks who had come to admire the silent beauty of God’s creation were now watching people in cardboard costumes sprayed with silver paint.

It reminded me of my quiet time. How often I sit down to seek the Lord through Bible reading and prayer, only to be drawn away by the newspaper, an unpaid bill, or a list of things to be done. The psalmist had better focus when he wrote: “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens! . . . When I consider Your heavens, . . . what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:1,3-4).

While contemplating the Lord and meditating on His creation, the psalmist’s self-important attitude shifted to one of humble appreciation for God’s goodness. It can be true of us too, if we can keep the robots and the rocks in proper perspective.  — David C. McCasland