It Might Look Like We Are Playing…

I am trying to let spring slip away.  It has been a season of hopeful busyness as we hurried to get everything  done before we retreat from the hot summer sun. We have  prepared the soil, planted and now we wait.

We see subtle changes in the  patterns around us. The Oriole who  returned in spring-  boldly showing off his bright orange plumage, quietly slips away into the thick and shady underbrush. Cracks in the clay which are always there, grow wider and longer, causing the sheep to stumble as they drag their feet out to the pasture. The fields lie quiet as the last lonely tractor heads back to the barn and we watch and wait for the corn, beans and wheat to grow…wait for the rain. We measure the colour changes in the wheat field- knowing that when all is a golden brown, summer will be half gone. 

It will soon be time to bring out our favourite stories and poems to reread; wash fleeces,- placing them out to dry in the sun;  mark patches of wild plants that will make good dye baths for our wool; enjoy the tastes of summer as we experiment with new recipes.   Pleasures  are many but there is also a restlessness of summer that sends one’s thoughts deeper.

  Our minds do not remain idyll  but we become seekers…seekers who find ourselves going on pilgrimages to holy relics, picnics down strange and unfamiliar roads or coming out of our homes to sit under a starry sky as we ponder about life.  But let not your restlessness cause you too much unhappiness.  Summer is a time of wonder and fullness. We may look like we are playing but it is all meaningful.

It seems like only yesterday when homeschooling lessons were done for the day, my daughter and I would drag our spinning wheels out to the pasture and sit and spin before an audience of curious sheep.  My husband on returning home from work would say, “what’s with the spinning wheels?” He didn’t get it!  Imagine…he thought we were playing.

Into the Shadows

With the coming of spring this year, I  set my heart on the simple presence of God in my life and to fall in love again.

If we want God in our lives, we must look for and abide in the things of God.  Paul says that believers are to set their minds on what is pure, lovely, excellent and praiseworthy and God will be with you. (Phil. 4:8-9)

The more we experience God, the    more our thoughts will turn to Him and our actions will honour Him.  So “go to where you can practice the presence of God.”  For me, it is in the quiet of my soul,  the faint repetitive sounds that we almost miss, the unexpected but orchestrated…often deep within my own garden. Sometimes, I have run there…sometimes I have walked there reluctantly. For you- it may be different.

 

Go to the deepest part of your soul  where you will be at peace, away from all diversions.

  Go often to your garden…into the shadows and respond to its mystery.

Follow your yearnings.  Hope to see that which isn’t obvious. The nature of God is to reveal Himself, even in the smallest …

Empty yourselves…adore Him…praise

Him 

…and He will come to you.

Sometimes His presence is over whelming and it is difficult to abide in it. 

Many years ago when my girls were young, I was sitting in their room while they were having their evening bath.  As I waited, thinking of  God, I saw in my mind an image of a butterfly emerging out of a pupa.  As I watched, this new creature paused for some time on top of its once home as if thinking… daring to imagine what it was about to do. Then slowly…it began to fly. A most amazing transformation took place in my mind as I became the butterfly.  I could feel myself rise and fall with the wind as it blew gently on my face.  After a  brief time, I gently pulled myself away from this vision, needing the familiarity of being alone once again, sitting in my daughters’ room.  Comforted by the familiar, I attempted to return to the vision but it was gone. A brief moment…yet long enough to know and believe.  “God wants a soul that is searching for Him to be comforted anywhere” and He will come to you.

As Jesus lived every moment in the presence of God and every thought, word and action of Jesus came from the Father…return to the deepest part of your soul and  learn to simply live in His presence…that which is real and true. His presence will become more real than life itself.

In the second movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, we no longer hear the strains of the old world that begin the 13th Symphony but something new and simple in contrast,  and we find ourselves entering into this new world.

In going…turn once more and that which you have looked upon before… many times, will  now be incredibly beautiful by the simple act of faith.