“Mama! I found another one!” she squealed with delight as her small hand plunged into the mud to wrangle another clam out of the sandbar. “It’s like we’re playing hide and seek with Jesus! He hides them and we find them!” she exclaimed before scampering off with the clam rake jostling behind her. I laughed, amused, but also intrigued by the realization that she may be onto something. If God created the world and everything in it, then wasn’t it true that my daughters were indeed finding hidden treasures that had been placed there by His hand? 

I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel,
who summons you by name.
Isaiah 45:3

Wonder eclipsed my typical way of thinking and for a few moments, I could sense His presence all around me. I closed my eyes to savor it. He was there. He was with us. The gentle breeze that flickered a strand of my hair suddenly seemed to intimate His whisper. The warmth of the sunshine on my face, His touch. The rhythmic pounding of the waves onto the shore, His heartbeat. I opened my eyes to the vastness of the ocean spread out before me and wonder gave way to worship—How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ—Hallelujah!

His treasures, that somehow only moments before had seemed hidden, now surrounded me. They enraptured me and pointed me to His presence. I lifted my eyes to the heavens—thankful for this moment, thankful for the gift of wonder. So often I miss it—but today, when the heavens declared the glory of God, my eyes were open to see it. Today, when the skies proclaimed His handiwork, my ears were not too dull to hear it. Thank you, God, for the treasure of your presence. 

I called my daughters back over and we hunted for clams together with abandon. What only moments before had been a fun outing to watch the sunrise and dig for clams had become a treasure hunt with Jesus—and I was filled with delight. 

Scriptures referenced: I Corinthians 10:26; Matthew 28:20; Psalm 24:1; Psalm 123:1; Isaiah 40:26; Ephesians 3:18, Matthew 13:15; Psalm 19:1-4a