How Small Are We?

Whilst out on a bike ride recently, admiring God’s creation, getting ‘some miles into the legs,’ and minding my own business, I was suddenly aware of an attack on my person. Instantly that flood of biochemicals produced in or triggered by the brain made their way at what seemed like light speed through my body: flight or fight?

My world had changed in an instant! I was ready for battle. And the opponent? A magpie. I was being swooped by a magpie. Defending his or her territory and young was priority one for this bird. And the result? I managed to win battle one, only being swooped once. Round two was a different matter. As I rounded my turn and commenced the journey home I mused about the anticipated encounter; I considered a different route. The little voice inside me did say, ‘You have been warned!’ Nevertheless, I resolutely rode on.

After the second encounter, having been swooped and contacted half a dozen times, and feeling fortunate to have had my bike helmet and protective glasses on to protect me, I realised how easy it was to knock me off balance. One bird took umbrage with me and defended his or her family and I was the would-be predator. All it was that took me off balance was the stimulus of one bird. An instant after the second encounter I considered my lip which I bit, as an almost autonomic response, and the taste of the blood from the force of my clenched jaw.

I was then forced to consider how small I was, or am; speaking present-tense. I find it amazing that God graces me with opportunities to live in this vast universe, me, but a speck; a piece of dust with his Spirit in me for a time. I am so apt at taking it all so much for granted, and he knows it. Yet the limits of his grace are inscrutable to humankind and I thank him, not only for getting me through the little scrape with the magpie, but also for life; the high’s, the lows, and all things in between.

I am small and insignificant. Yet to God I am also unique and worth his love; he says so. Even though I can be scared by a mere magpie, I have a better existence than this bird. When I’m in this mood, it is Psalm 8 that reflects my frame of mind:

1 LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

above the heavens.

2 Through the praise of children and infants

you have established a stronghold against

your enemies,

to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

4 what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;

you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,

and the animals of the wild,

8 the birds of the sky,

and the fish of the sea,

all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth![1]

Copyright © 2008, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

[1] Today’s New International Version.