The power of words

I haven't done much of my regular blogging this past month in part because I have been out of the office a fair bit. Part of that was because I was on vacation.

Scott and I spent a week at the Grand Canyon. Neither of us had been before and the first time the trees clear and you get a clear view of the canyon, you are struck by the awesomeness of it's size and beauty. The Grand Canyon is more massive than any picture could truly convey to you. It is over 270 miles long, at it's widest point it is 18 miles wide, and it is about a mile deep. It's intricate carving of countless valleys weaved together with peaks and plateaus is simply breathtaking. It truly is indescribable.

As we spent the week hiking in the canyon, being surprised at the different view and new discovery waiting around every corner, I could not help but think about the opening passages of Genesis. In the beginning God created. And each phase of the creation account in Genesis begins with the phrase "and God said." In Genesis, all of creation results from the word of God spoken. According to Genesis, all of creation is the result of God speaking. And it occurred to me that all of what I was looking at was the result of the awesome and creative power of God's word. Oh sure, rivers and wind, and all sorts of things contributed to the existence of the Grand Canyon as we now know it. But at the heart of all that, is the active, creating, grace-filled, relational word of God.

God spoke. Creation was formed. God spoke. Life came into existence. God spoke. Relationships were begun. Relationships between living things, between the earth, plants, trees, animals, people. Relationships between God and all of creation, even us. God spoke.

But the most amazing thing isn't that God spoke, it is that God speaks. The really amazing thing is that the life-giving, ordering, transforming, redeeming word of God is still active in our midst. As I sat, taking in the incredible view that is the Grand Canyon, I began to wonder, have we acknowledged that God speaks? Have we acknowledged that the same God who spoke creation into existence has not abandoned that creation but wants to continually be in relationship with it? Have we acknowledged that the God whose words created life, is still speaking in our own lives?

God speaks. It's an incredible thing to think that the creator of all this, cares about each one of us. We are not just a speck in this universe, floating along absently. I know that, because I know that God speaks. God speaks in each of our lives, wanting to bring us ever closer in our relationship with God. God speaks, wanting to shape us more fully into the image of God. As i looked at the land before me that had been so intricately molded and shaped by the word of God, I began to wonder how are we allowing the word of God to mold and shape us? How are we allowing the word of God to transform our lives?

God speaks, what are our lives saying back?