Just an Ordinary Miracle Today

Life is difficult, often not what we expected but as Elizabeth Elliot said,” just keep on keeping on.”

Moments of Inspiration

Pepper, my dog, has been traumatized as he listened to the rain falling throughout the night. It seemed to go on and on and it promises to stay with us over the next few days.  The garbage men wore their raincoats today as they came along the country roads to each driveway.  The rain has stopped the tractors from going to the fields today. The rain has interrupted the colours.  We are all waiting. It has forced us to stop and consider what  each day brings… moments to experience God…fresh insights.  “I will incline mine ear.”  I will incline my heart.  Touch  each moment as they pass deeply into you, changing you.

She shall lean her ear

In many a secret place,

Where rivulets dance their wayward round

And beauty born of murmuring sound

Shall pass into her face.

                                                     Wordsworth

Let us not be indifferent to the  things we see and hear around us. Who knows what wisdom is to be learned in these quiet moments of inspiration as we incline our ears. These moments remind me how deeply I care.

The Meadow

                                               

Unlike walking through the woods, making one’s way through a meadow,  requires discernment.  I walk with  head down and carefully placed steps as entire villages pass by my feet- unnoticed.  The meadow is place where paths meet and diverge for insects, birds, animals and people.  It is a place that explodes with colour, sound, movement.  And over all, the Red Tail Hawk guided by a sense of need, keeps up his unrelenting surveillance as he soars back forth, his cry swelling and fading until it becomes tiring…almost disturbing listening to him. 

                                                                                                                On late summer mornings, when the dew in the meadow is gone, I walk out to  gather flowers for dyeing wool. I am on my best behaviour as I share the Black-Eyed Susan patches with the bees,   working side by side. I take only the mature flower heads, leaving some for my friends.               

 

The lone insect that  pauses in  the busyness of his day,  to sit motionless on a flower petal or blade of grass,  is an intriguing sight. So uncharacteristic and unexplained- he waits. Last week while visiting the flower patches, I saw my first and perhaps only pink Katydid, sitting motionless on a blade of grass as if caught in mid step-a picture of frozen motion.

I did not grasp how unique a moment it was, for the pink Katydid is a rare find- one in a 100,000 to 500,000 depending on the source you read.  “It is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” comments Jim McCormac, Ohio Division of Wildlife, as this truly rare creature lacks the protective colouring that protects her from predation.  She is a mystery.  One might spend inestimable hours in the field studying these insects and never come across one.  And there she was…timid, vulnerable,  unique and  gentle…and I almost missed her.

Why is it that some of the most special moments in our lives almost go unnoticed?  If we are to  see these special moments, we must turn from all else-  our introspective view of life.  These moments give us a new vantage point as we become so much more aware of what is happening around us…outside of us.

It is in the meadow, we find a new place in life.  Alone, we are not creatures of strength, joy, power. We discover there is more to life.  We take time to sit…time to wait.  This is our place of total dependence on God. 

“Waiting on God is the highest salvation.” (Andrew Murray) 

    

 

 

I have wished to be a stronger, braver, wife, mother, friend and servant of Christ but I have lived a gentle and timid life.  But in this brief intimate encounter with my pink Katydid, the facts remain in my mind.  She was rare, unique and unsuited for her world yet come evening until she dies with the coming of frost, her ancient song will fill the night as she plays on her wings.

Let you   hear what God has for you to hear.  Let you  see what God has for you to see… and I pray that God’s words will fill your mouth.

“Waiting on God must be as continuous and unbroken as breathing.” Andrew Murray

 

 

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