Little insignificant me

Our lives are so filled with the mundane - the people around us, our homes, our jobs, our hobbies - that we often don't give much thought to what's beyond our little world, let alone all the details of our town, our country, our planet.

So take a minute to think about these facts:

• Our planet is about 4.54 billion years old.
• Earth is 93 million miles away from the nearest star, the Sun.
• The Sun is 865,000 miles in diameter and Earth could fit inside it more than a million times.
• That said, our Sun is tiny compared to some stars. Some are as wide as 250 million miles in diameter.
• The nearest star to us after the Sun is Proxima Centuri and is 4.2 light years away. Bear in mind that light travels at 186,282 miles per second.
• Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is 100,000 light years in diameter and contains between 200-400 billion stars.
• The Milky Way is one of about 30 galaxies in a cluster known as the Local Group. The Universe contains millions of galaxy clusters.

Have a quick watch of this video for a mind-blowing summary of the sheer size of our universe!

We can't properly process this information. It is just too awesome. If we start talking in figures bigger than we can picture, we find the information difficult to comprehend.

Christians believe that God brought Earth, the Sun, the Milky Way and indeed the entire Universe into being. This is likely to have come about at the time of the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago.

Imagine you are the God who brought all this into being. Seventy sextillion stars, all designed and created by yourself. As humans we can't really grasp the notion of knowing every detail of every star in existence, let alone everything else in the Universe. What do we know of other planets in our own solar system let alone those billions of light years away, when there is so much of Earth we haven't discovered?

God is concerned with huge things well outside our comprehension, true, but He can and really does care about the mundane, just like we do. He cares for us, little insignificant beings that we must feel at times.

Take a minute or two to consider these quotes:

• When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother's womb, when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there - you saw me before I was born. ~ Psalm 139: 15-16
• "Aren't five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one sparrow is forgotten by God. Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!" ~ Luke 12:6-7
• Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him. ~ Matthew 6:8
• Suppose a woman who has ten silver coins loses on of them - what does she do? She lights a lamp, sweeps her house, and looks carefully everywhere until she finds it. When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together, and says to them, I am so happy I found the coin I lost. Let us celebrate! In the same way, I tell you, the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents. ~ Luke 15:8-10

Nothing is too small or insignificant for God's attention. He genuinely does care about the little details, the things that bother us and even things which are too small for us to consider! Never think that you can't confide in your loving Father because your issues are "not important enough". He loves it when we come to Him in prayer at any time of day or night and it doesn't matter whether we feel we are communicating effectively or not. Nor does it matter if we are raising a topic of huge concern, or just wanting someone to listen and to provide the love and comfort He wants to give each and every one of us.

Filling a hole

Do you know those little toys that pre-school children have that have several holes in them, all different shapes. There will be a round hole, a square hole, a triangular one and perhaps one shaped like a star or something. The toy also includes several blocks of corresponding shapes and teaches young children through play how to sort shapes and fit them into their respective holes.

What many people give no thought to, however, is that perhaps we are pretty similar to these toys in that there is a hole in us that needs filling for us to feel completely satisfied in life. The hole is not a physical thing, though; it cannot simply be filled with things we put into our bodies. It is a God-shaped hole because we need our own Father, Creator and Saviour to make our lives complete. We have been made in God's likeness (Genesis 1:26) and Jesus has bridged the gap between mankind and God by his death and resurrection so we naturally have a bond with God.

It's tragic therefore that we cannot feel whole all the while we are ignorant of how to fill the hole! Many people, perhaps most - if not all! - have at some point felt a bit empty and in need of that special something to make us feel full. British culture at the moment seems to be obsessed by this hole and is encouraging us all to fill it however we like. Young people in particular, who are still trying to find their way in life, are encouraged to use whatever hedonistic practices they most enjoy to feel satisfied. Common hole-fillers include (but are certainly not limited to) sex (and lots of it!), booze (and lots of it!) and money (and lots of it!). These are all physical things and none of them is intrinsically wrong - it's just that we are misusing these things to find instant gratification, sometimes even regardless of consequences.

The cheapening of sex, the over-consumption of alcohol and the lust for money is drawing our attention away from that which can truly satisfy, and not just for a Friday evening, but for ever.

Jesus, our only connection to our loving Father and Creator, once said "Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13)

Don't pass up the opportunity to accept Jesus' offer of "living water" - belief in him is enough to fill that hole which we all have.