Checking out the Grand Canyon

I'm writing this on the way home from my family's vacation to the Grand Canyon, which truly is one of the grandest things I have ever seen. Standing on the rim of it and looking out, I was struck by how vast it is compared to how small I am. This difference is what made looking at the canyon and hiking down into it so amazing. Getting to be a part of its greatness filled me with gratitude and made me feel alive, reminding me of God's greatness and how much he treasures me being a part of him.

What also struck me about the canyon was how it worships God just by being. By being what God created it and is creating it to be--a vast, rocky space in the ground--it testifies to who God is. Looking at this canyon whose splendor, like God, can't be described using words, taught me so much about God's patience and love.

The layers of rock that took millions of years to form and are still being shifted and formed today reminded me yet again that we serve a slow God--a God of great patience and meticulous work, a God whose creation is that much more marvelous and wonderful because of the great love he puts into it, love that creates such beauty, love that is willing to wait for beauty, love that sees and knows the ultimate plan and does not rush getting to it.

God's love is so opposite of my attitude towards things, an attitude that is impatient for things to happen in life and is easily frustrated when they don't happen as quickly as I want them to. The Grand Canyon reminded me that the God who created me and loves me is more than capable of creating marvels; though his plans and timing might not look like mine, they turn out more incredible than anything I could have dreamed.

Right now, sitting in my pajamas with my hair in a crazy, flyaway ponytail in a hotel bathroom somewhere in Oklahoma while my family sleeps on the other side of the wall, the truth that I could not be loved by God any more or any less than I am in this moment is so real to me. The time and care he is taking and has taken in making the Grand Canyon so magnificent as he brings it back to himself is the same time, care and patience he is creating me and has created me with.

The wonder and awe I felt as I gazed down into the Grand Canyon is only a piece of the wonder and awe God is filled with as he gazes at me and you, creations he's making in his image and bringing back to himself. We call natural places of great beauty Wonders of the World, but to God, we are the wonders of his world, wonders he loves and whose being he is patiently creating, delighting in us as we experience him.

Mia Pohlman is a Perryville, Mo., native studying at Truman State University. She loves performing, God and the color purple – not necessarily in that order.