Ocean Horizon

A few years back, I went on a trip to Virginia Beach with a couple friends from seminary.  One of the things I remember most about that trip was how awe-inspiring it was to stand in the ocean at night and gaze out toward the horizon.  Sadly, there have been too few times since then that I have looked at the stars.  Perhaps it is because I'm a bit of a church nerd (a fact that I'm proud of), but I couldn't help but think of Psalm 8 while I was there.

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
   Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
   to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
   and crowned them with glory and honour.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
   you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
   and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
   whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Standing there with my feet in the water and looking out across the Atlantic, I couldn't tell where the ocean met the sky.  I was overwhelmed by how tiny I felt then.  How is it that we who are such a miniscule part of this universe have found favor with God?  The more I think about it, the more I find myself wondering if I'll ever know why God loves us.  Perhaps we're not meant to know why.  Perhaps we should be able to rest just knowing that God does love us.

Even though none of us are perfect and, as this week's collect puts it, "we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves" (BCP p. 218), God has chosen to love us and grant us the wonder that is our lives.  My prayer for you is that you come to a place where you no longer seek a reason to be worthy of God's love, but rest in knowing that you are loved.