This week's Carnival of Beauty is on the Beauty of Sunshine.  I had no trouble thinking of something to share this week.  It is one of my favourite memories and a real "aha" moment.  So, I want you to use your imagination as you read and really try to put yourself in my barefeet so you too can feel the same way that I did that September day almost 7 years ago.

I was away at my favourite bed and breakfast that my dear husband usually sends me to once a year for a solitude weekend.  I had spent the weekend resting, reading, praying and enjoying the company of my 6 month old daughter who had accompanied me.  Truth be told, I was also watching quite a bit of the Summer Olympics from Australia, as I do really enjoy watching these beautifully dedicated men and women pushing themselves to their physical limits and beyond.  All in all it was a simply perfect weekend. 

It was our last evening there and I really felt compelled to go and watch the sunset over the lake with my wee daughter.  I wrapped her up in blankets and tiptoed across the quiet, grassy hills to the perfect vantage point and waited.  It was so remarkably beautiful, and I felt praise for the Lord welling up in my heart.  I wanted to sing to Him and worship Him there on that hillside, but as I tried to open my mouth, nothing came out.  Just tears flowing down my cheeks as I realized that, as John Piper says, often the first and most appropriate response in worship is silence.  So as I sat basking in the beauty and power of this sunset, I waited quietly as nature worshipped the Lord in ways with which I could never compete.

Knowing the walk home was a little tricky underfoot, especially with a baby in tow, I left my lakeside altar before the sun had completed its descent.  I returned to my bed and breakfast with the glowing sun behind me, just in time to see a Canadian winning the triathalon...in  Australia...live...in broad daylight.

And then it struck me.  I know my geography just well enough to know that Australia is really really far away from my little place in Canada.  I also know that the sun is really really big.  However, I don't think I realized until that moment that I could be seeing the sun go from low in my sky to horizon while the rest of the world was seeing it too.  Somehow I was astonished at the size of the sun and its 'presence' over all the earth.  But how much moreso then, the size of my Lord, the presence of my Lord throughout the whole earth...all the time...in every place and circumstance...omnipresent.

The beautiful sunshine that day shrunk my world and expanded my view of my Father.  I was so thankful for the insight He gave me that day.  I am learning to trust in His constant 'everywhereness' everyday, so that no matter where I am, what I'm doing, I can know without a doubt that He is before me, beside me, behind me...hemming me in on all sides.  And He is there with you wherever you are too.  Too high for me to grasp. Too lofty for me to comprehend. But I'm trying.