Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled Look to the Skies, was written by Patricia Raybon.

Alex Smalley wants everyone to wake up earlier, or perhaps pause more at day's end.

Why?

To gaze at sunrises and sunsets.

Those fleeting moments are the most beautiful, awe-inspiring times of the day, according to

Smalley, the lead researcher of a British study on awe-inducing

weather effects. Even more than blue skies or glittering nightscapes, a stunning sunrise or sunset can

improve mood, increase positive emotions, and decrease stress.

Smalley says, when you see something vast and overwhelming or something that produces this

feeling of awe, your own problems can feel diminished, and so you don't worry so much

about them.

His findings on wonder echo those of the prophet

Jeremiah. Ah, sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power

an outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. King David also beheld God's creation, declaring in Psalm 19,

the heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day,

they pour forth speech. Night after night, they reveal knowledge.

As for the sun, it rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other. Nothing is

deprived of its warmth. God's glorious creation reflects the all-powerful creator.

Why not take time today to look to the skies and marvel in him?

Join me as I read today's scripture reading from Psalm 19, verses 1 through 9.

The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech. Night after night,

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