uest 
evotionals
SMALL
Now that the snow has melted away, sight-seers cars are pulling up at the barn. This is a northern bush town. People think it would be nice for their children to see farm animals. Moose are commonly seen in our area, but a cow is exotic. Alas, often the parents are disappointed. Their child shrinks away from the calves and pony, clinging to Mom's neck, whimpering. The animals are just too big.
Someone told me of a frightening summer night in a canoe. The stars were brilliant, more numerous than he had ever imagined. Staring up, he began to feel as though he were falling into an endless and unfamiliar universe, a human speck that counted for nothing. Another person confided she worries about "space and things" because one can never know what, who, might be out there.
When I was twelve, I received a microscope for Christmas. I became obsessed with small things. I grabbed onion skins from the kitchen, flowers from the African violet, pared skin from my Dad's calloused feet. It all went under the microscope. There was a world of pattern and design under the lens. The few cells ripped from a violet petal became big chunks of glowing amethyst. The thin slippery inner membrane of an onion was like a wall of neat bricks. The family grew tired of my urging them to "Come and see!" I was gobsmacked by the order, beauty and symmetry to be found in things so small and insignificant.
These days I play on the computer, delighting in the accessibility of museums and science articles of all kinds. Last night I pored over electron microscope images of creatures smaller than motes of dust. Some have skin that wrinkles. Others have bright eyes and whiskers. Many have intricate armour plates that seem to have been fitted on them by a jeweler.
Go smaller yet! I love the shape of living things, but my late husband loved physics. He delighted in reading about particles smaller than atoms. New particles have been detected, described and named. The physicists, perhaps feeling they have gone beyond everyday science, have given the particles whimsical names. Is this an Up quark, a Down quark, or a Charm quark?
People are using amazing tools to explore space, and at the opposite end of the scale of curiosity, the building blocks of atoms. In either direction one encounters order, symmetry, and beauty. Some shapes recur at all scales. The curved lines radiating from the centre of a daisy are mathematically the same as the curve of the arms of a swirling galaxy. That curve has been nicknamed "The signature of God."
We don't have to fear being small. Our God is the wellspring of variety. He delights in his works and lavishes as much detail on the small as on the huge. Small is good.
© Bonnie Ivey
(Bonnie Ivey has lived in the world of books and pictures since childhood. Her Fine Arts studies took place at the University of Manitoba. She is a member of The Word Guild and lives in northern Ontario which she finds enriching to imagine a visual setting while reading scripture, as a stage for the dramatic happenings. It was through exhibiting her gospel artworks that she became aware of a hunger in the viewers to hear the pictures explained. Paintings only open the door. They want the words. You can find out more at www.chapleau.ca/portal/en/marketplace/bonnieivey)
