Thursday Morning Worship

I love sunrises and sun sets. Some might even call me obsessed. I have been known to drive out of town just to get an unobstructed view or to pull over on the highway just to marvel at and get a picture of the beauty of the sky.
My smartphone is filled with these photos. Sometimes I share them online, sometimes I send them to friends, but a lot of the time they are just for me.
As I stood out in the yard this morning taking yet another photo of a gorgeous prairie sunrise, it came to me...the act of taking these photos is very worshipful. I don't just take one and move on. I stand and admire it from behind different trees or vantage points. I gasp and say out loud how beautiful it is. I truly spend those moments in awe and gratitude.
The act of taking these pictures is my church. It is my time to stand and worship the glory of what has been created and to give thanks for it.
Some people go to church on Sunday morning and feel those things. But I realized that for me, THIS is my church. Standing in the crisp Autumn morning, the warm West wind at my back. The soft pine boughs nudging me, all while I'm staring at the incredible glory of a new day's beginning.

If that doesn't warrant an Amen, then I don't know what would.