Hi Friends,

One morning last week, I woke unusually early. It was still dark outside. I laced up my running shoes and stepped out the door to walk the block.

Our neighborhood is one big rectangle, with a steep hill on one side. It takes effort to climb, but at the top you’re rewarded with a wide-open view of the horizon.

That morning, I caught the sunrise one lap at a time.

Each time I crested the hill, the sky had shifted. Orange, pink, purple, and blue stretched out in new patterns with every loop. It was breathtaking—like watching a miracle unfold.

And when the miracle was at its fullest — when the sun finally broke free and lit up the sky?

I stopped at the mailbox and grabbed the mail.

If that’s not a picture of the Christian life, I don’t know what is.

There’s so much about God that fills us with awe. The beauty of His nature. His miracle work of changing us to be like Christ.

And we do stand in awe. Sometimes we stop everything as we catch a glimpse and take it in.

But we don’t spend our lives at the top of the hill. The light of Christ fills our eyes, and we set about the ordinary, beautiful business of being human.

Running errands. Driving kids to practice. Pulling leftovers from the freezer. Checking on a sick friend. Picking up flowers to drop at their doorstep.

The miracle work of God fills our lives, and we hum about in our backyard gardens.

It’s not irreverence. Quite the opposite: it’s a kind of celebration. Evidence that His goodness is not fleeting, not unusual or atypical.

We take the light He sheds abroad in our hearts, and we live by it. Really live by it. In all our ordinary moments.

What a gift.

— Anna