I’m putting myself on notice.

Actually, the more I think about that phrase, the weirder it sounds, but I’m going with it anyway.  I am going to try to notice more.

It was a beautiful day in West Palm Beach yesterday.  Bright blue skies. Sixty nine degrees. Breezy, but not windy.  Delightful. The kind of day that warrants a walk.  So I hung the little “Be Back in 5 Minutes” sign on my office door and took a quick stroll outside.  In spite of it being my first day back at work after the holiday break, I was in a particularly good mood.

And that’s when I started to notice.

I noticed the freshly manicured landscaping around the campus. I noticed the flowering shrubs and the trees that the students love to hang hammocks in.  I noticed the turkey vultures soaring in circles high overhead.  (I realize that by bringing up turkey vultures I run the risk of ruining the moment, but they are pretty to watch.  From a distance.)  Then I noticed the pattern of the paving stones on the sidewalks.  And the swaying palm fronds.  And the noise of a train in the distance. And a whole lot of other things I’d miss if I wasn’t being intentional.

And standing over it all, I noticed the cross.

It’s the cross on top of our university campus chapel.  Of course I see it all the time, but today I really saw it.  God’s here.  He’s over all these little details. The things that usually seem so inconsequential to us are part of His world, part of His plan.  It’s so easy for me to go about my day, oblivious to His presence. Oblivious to His watchful care.

But if I take the time, I see it.  I feel it.  I know it.

The “perfect day” scenario made it easy to appreciate the beauty and the rhythm of the world outside my office door. The “perfect day” made for a pretty picture of the cross.  But the cross is there on the gray and gloomy days as well. I just need to look for it. To look for Him.

So I’m putting myself on notice.

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.  (Maltbie D. Babcock, 1901)

Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing. Isaiah 40:26