Beautiful Things

 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Did you see the beautiful sunrise this morning?  It was AMAZING.  It made me get up early and outside for a long walk, which is pretty much the way I am going to stay sane for the next few weeks.  How are you taking care of yourself?  

I was also so blessed this morning by Parker Palmer's daily post on FB, (if you click this link you can read it too: Parker Palmer's Spring is Mud and Miracle) which reminded me that TODAY is the first day of spring!  This new pace has really made me stop and listen to many things, but one of the things I have been enjoying the most is the sound of the birds singing.  It is a gift that while the situation we are in seems really chaotic and scary, we can ground ourselves in the new life that is blossoming all around us.  

The other HUGE gift I received last night was a chance to gather for Bible study with some of the church.  While I can definitely make some improvements on how to do online study, the real joy was just spending time with people, seeing them and hearing them and knowing that regardless of physical distance there is something that continues to connect us.  Maybe you can join us next week, Wednesday at 6:30pm.  I don't know about you, but doing anything remotely normal is really comforting right now.  

The 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes is one you probably know.  I read it often at funerals, but you'd probably know it best from the Byrds, "Turn, Turn, Turn."  I won't post it all here, because you can look it up and read it, but it basically says that "there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven." Time is a funny thing.  Usually each week I am wishing I had more of it, sometimes I'm not sure where it goes, but if it's the middle of the night and I'm looking at the clock it seems that each minute lasts a lifetime.  Our understanding of time is rooted in spacial metaphors, past-present-future, yesterday-today-tomorrow.  If you're really bored you can read about St. Augustine's understanding of time in The Confessions: Book XI, but the gist of what he had to say is that God is outside of the confines of our understanding of time, that God in creating all things also created time.  

The verse above rings true in times of uncertainty.  We cannot completely fathom what God is doing, has done, or will do.  But, we can trust that God is making all things beautiful in time.  As Christians, we can be clear that the worst thing is never the last thing, because the best is yet to come.  So rather than being anxious and fearful, let's look around and notice the beautiful things God has set in our paths.  Where are you seeing beauty today?

Prayer:  Thanks God, for the promise of spring.  For the dirt and the mud that will lead to the beauty of green pastures and colorful flowers.  Keep us grounded in the knowledge that this season will pass, and help us to be present each day, witnessing to the beauty and gifts around us.  Amen.

Air-hugs,

Pastor Devon