MAGNIFICENCE
Have you ever experienced something magnificent or had a sense
of magnificence??? Something so
wonderful, so splendid, so grand that you stood in awe and wondered: “How in the world has this come to be?”
Think of the all the magnificence of nature: A one hundred year old Red Wood Tree in Muir
Woods, CA, or the splendor of a Peacock tail fanned out so beautifully, or the
stripes of a Zebra, the mystery of a Hummingbirds wings, a Rose unfolding its
petals, Butterflies, Lady bugs, a Purple thistle in a wheat field, or a
resplendent Rainbow in the midst of a thunderstorm!
Then, contemplate the magnificence of
architecture: The Egyptian Pyramids,
Petra in Jordan, Rio De Janeiro Statue of Jesus in Brazil, The Famous Landmark
in Taiwan, The San Francisco Bridge, The Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island, The
Rome Coloseeum, or The Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany! How many more categories can you think of that are magnificent?
Magnificence is grandeur, brilliance, splendor,
luster, majesty, nobility, royalty – in some ways magnificence places a Halo
around the thing of beauty that our eyes behold!!!
Today, I was reading a devotion called the Gift of
Life by Fr. Kenneth Grabner, C.S.C. in the Living Faith devotional
magazine. This is what he wrote based on
I John 2:25:
“And this is the promise that He made us: Eternal Life.”
“Life is God’s precious, loving gift to us. It begins in the womb of our mothers and then
goes through a marvelous transformation when we are born into the world. Then we grow in our ability to give and
receive love and to appreciate the magnificence of all that God has
created. We learn how to appreciate
beauty, and we discover how to develop the gifts and talents God has given us.
We have many reasons to be grateful for this gift. But it is only the beginning of what is to
come. God’s promise is that we will be
born from the womb of this world into eternal life, where we will go through
another marvelous transformation. Our
experience of a love relationship with God and His creation will be ecstatic
and will grow without end. God’s promise
is always a deeper life. We are in for
one joyful ride!”
One
JOYFUL Ride!!! Imagine that! God has so many
beautiful things planned for us – so many surprises along the way!!! Magnificence is all around us…..how can we
notice it? How may we partake in
it?
I think the key is exactly what Fr. Grabner
said: “To discover how to develop the
gifts and talents God has given us!”
And, our Pastor Brad Fogo gave us wonderful ideas on
New Year’s Day to imagine what God wants to do in our lives in 2017:
Imagine if you and I each started looking for ways
to grow in our ability to give our talents away and do what we do best in the
year 2017?
Imagine what good we could do to help others!
Imagine what needs we could supply for those less
fortunate than we are!
Imagine what we could learn to appreciate….
Imagine what relationships we could make better!
Imagine if we did our job better than we ever have
before?
Imagine if all people who claim to love God shared
that with their neighbors?
Imagine making your personal walk with Jesus more
faithful, more obedient, more true?
Imagine the Magnificence of glorifying God in
everything we think, in everything we do, in everything we say….Wow! That would be MAGNIFICENT!!!
