The patch of sunlight on the living room floor reminds me how much difference a year makes. 

Last March, this patch was my spot. I was extremely nauseous from pregnancy and like a cat, I stretched across the floor, absorbing all the comfort a body can get in that painful season. I think many of us were doing the same thing after the long dark winter and the onslaught of a pandemic. We sought whatever comfort we could find, hoping for new life again. 

After our daughter was born on Labor Day and we had two weeks of a giant smoke plume, I was finally able to get out on a walk. When I came over the crest of Marine View Drive, the Puget Sound spread out below me and instantly I let out a heavy sigh of relief. It felt like my first deep breath all year, and in that moment I realized how deep my emotional valley had been. Looking out over the calm water and towering mountains, I heard God speak to me about the importance of a scenic view. 

On the road trip of life, climbing out of the valley can be hard, painful work, especially if you don’t want to be there in the first place. Your body is tense and your eyes can get stuck on the gritty, stressful details of the road directly in front of you. It’s difficult to see just how far you’ve come and it’s easy to feel alone and hopeless. 

But God posts scenic view signs. If you are doing the grueling work of climbing out of a valley, watch for his invitations. He invites you to stop, get out of the car, breathe in the fresh air of his beauty, and see what he sees: 

He sees you. He sees all the hard climbing you’re doing because he’s never left you alone. And he has a plan for you that will be part of the big picture scenery you’ll one day see in whole, even though now you only see it in part and have a hard time understanding. 

1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully even as I am fully known.”

These are life-giving, hope-sustaining promises! At the peak of this majestic mountain we’re ascending, we will finally see Jesus face to face. We will finally know God’s perfect plan in all its glory. And even though the promise of our full knowledge is in the future, the promise of God knowing and seeing us on earth is now. Not later, not in heaven, but now. We serve a faithful God who knows and loves us just as we are! 

The blessing of pregnancy is that there is an end to the discomfort. Thankfully for our family, new life came in the form of sweet baby Colette! 

And the blessing in this earthly life for all of us is that there is an end to discomfort and pain and grief. New life came in the form of a baby who didn’t just come to live, but to die first for our sin and then to rise again for our life. 

It is in Jesus’ resurrection that we can look forward to the greatest scenic view ever in Heaven.

PRAYER: Jesus, you are the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through you. Help me to pull over for scenic views with you, admiring your handiwork, even when I don’t understand it. Climb with me out of my valley and help me ascend your mountain with only the strength that you can give. I trust in the resurrection power of your name! Amen.