The early sunshine peeked through the window as I grabbed my Bible and sat down for my devotion time. The daily Scripture reading began with Psalm 90:17: Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us. Such a beautiful, confident, expectant prayer!

It brought to mind a recent sermon calling us to receive, experience and delight ourselves in the grace of God, who takes pleasure in His children. God smiles when He thinks about you and me!

I often sense God's pleasure in all He's created, and I take particular pleasure in feathers and flowers. I have collected quite a variety of feathers from diverse places. There are Blue Jay, Chickadee, Cardinal, Ostrich, Peacock, Chicken, Goose, Duck, Sparrow and even some from my neighbor's Canary, Elvis. They are fluffy, spotted, gray, blue, red, brown and yellow. Some are tiny. But one is large enough that I made it into a quill.

Flowers make my heart happy, too. I've grown them and bought them, painted them and dried them. I've given and received them. They display God's infinitesimal design and perfection-and endless variety of size, shape, color, texture, fragrance, intricate detail within detail. God is unlimited in His artistry.

Feathers and flowers make me think of Matthew 6:26: Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns. And yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? I wonder what a difference it would make if I didn't doubt or worry. What if I spent all those "what if" moments in prayer or study of His Word or simply remembering what He has already done for me through the life, death and resurrection of His Son? God smiles when I trust Him.

What if I turned to Him first in every situation, recalling that Jesus is always thinking about me and always praying for me, since He always lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25). God smiles when I praise and thank Him.

What if my heart immediately sought His in the situations that hurt, frighten or disappoint? Would I see the amazing detail upon detail God uses to work out His plan for my life? He promises: I know the plans I have for youplans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). God smiles when I expect His goodness to come through.

The hall of faith in Hebrews 11 dramatically reminds me that God is not daunted by what seems impossible: the coming to faith of those I love, the ability to endure hardship, the resurrection of a marriage, the birth of a child, the power to forgive and be forgiven by others, the words to speak hope and peace to those who grieve.

He is the God of possible, and He wants me to recognize it is His grace and faithfulness that have brought me to faith and hope and joy in Him. Every time I acknowledge God's faithfulness, His unilateral contract to keep me from falling and to present me faultless before His throne through the blood of His own Son, I smile and that must make God smile, too.

Numbers 6:25 says, May the Lord smile on you (NLT) and Psalm 119:135 says, Smile on me, Your servant; teach me the right way to live (The Message). So look for God's fingerprint in feathers and flowers. And remember, you make God smile!