Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.
For the last few weeks I have been quarter-life crisising. There is a restlessness in this season that I’m trying to push away, but it continues to linger.
There is a feeling that I should be farther, should be traveling more, should be getting more education, should be living somewhere else, should be able to get up early enough to make a real breakfast rather than eating yogurt while sitting at stoplights on the way to work. But that’s not where I’m at. I’m eating yogurt at the stoplight since I woke up late due to watching House of Cards until two in the morning. Because I’m an adult.
Everything has felt a little mundane. I’ve felt a little too settled in the unsettledness of my life and I’ve been sure how to reconcile that. I know I’m not alone in this.
There has been a lack of glory in our worlds.
Isaiah 6 describes the seraphim singing the words above. Holy is the Lord Almighty— the earth is full of his glory. This is the fallen earth their singing about. The restless, unsettled, yogurt-at-a-red-light world.
And they are singing of His glory on it.
I was at a conference this past week, where a speaker was unpacking this. God, in his mercy, allows us to experience his glory on earth, but in our fallen nature, it is so easy for us to miss it.
If you’re like me, you spend so much time rushing and grasping throughout a day, that glory is the last thing on your mind. I use so much energy just trying to make life work, that taking the time to be silent is not even a regular happening. I’m worn and lost and empty.
And yet, we are invited to see God’s glory even on the earth.
Not only in the beauty of creation, but in a coworker’s ability to design something lovely using the words you’ve written. In a friend’s gift of hospitality taking away some of your concern with a cup of tea and a listening ear. In a songwriter’s work giving word to the ache you thought you were alone in feeling.
We are invited in to glory all the time, but we are too busy to look beyond face value. We would rather focus on what’s broken than be grateful for the small mercies and little beauties put before us on a daily basis.
I’ll unpack this a little more in the weeks to come, but for now, let me know in the comments what taste of glory you’ve tasted today.
