This morning was cool, not just any cool, but the kind of cool that only comes to the South after a brutally hot summer. Some would say it is the first kiss of fall. Some would just say Thank God! Either way, your skin just wants to soak it in. Your senses seem to be running wide open. It is a unique kind of peace. A morning like this is the perfect healing balm for a fractured mind or wounded spirit. Amazing!

Do you know what God likes to do on a morning like this? He puts a bug in your field of vision, a tiny, tiny bug. This was such a little thing that I doubt I would have even seen it in most of the moments of my life. But this morning, I found myself becoming fascinated with the movements of this little creature. It was weaving from left to right, over and over at ridiculous speed, but still heading toward the edge of the concrete with a purpose as if pulled by an invisible string. It was hypnotizing. I began to imagine how large and overwhelming the world must be to that small insect. Maybe I should help it? But I was also fascinated by how this little creation was driven to reach the goal presented by the approaching cliff. It clearly did not need my help. Strangely, I also had a temptation to squish it for no other reason other than the fact I could do it. Maybe it needed to be put out of its misery? Clearly, it was going nowhere and had no great future, right? Then it hit me. In a matter of moments, I had progressed from being oblivious to the bug’s existence to being fascinated by its intricate movements to having thoughts of judgmental destruction toward it. I began to think how bug-like we must seem to God.

Our world is huge. It is chaotic. It is ever-changing. We hurry back and forth, often with no real purpose, while we hurtle toward the ultimate cliff of life’s end. To an omnipotent, omnipresent God, one would think we seem like little more than a bug on a sidewalk, totally irrelevant. But thankfully, the Apostle Luke tells us that God is aware of each individual hair on our heads, all of our heads. We are not irrelevant regardless of what the world’s bug watchers would have us believe. You matter.

Some would have you believe that God is coming to squish you because you aren’t going the right way or being productive. He is coming to put you out of your misery. We have all felt that way. Fortunately for you and me, is what the Bible tells us in Romans. NOTHING will separate us from the LOVE of God. It doesn’t matter if we weave and wander. It doesn’t matter if we fall off the edge of the sidewalk, God is aware of us and loves us. He is not a bug squasher.

What a weird little story, huh? If today is a day you feel like a tiny bug in a big world, take heart. Our God is with us. He knows us. He cares.