Today marked the second time in a couple of years that I headed toward the mountains in the rain with the thought "Today is a beautiful day." I love the rain in the Smokies, provided the downfall is not so torrential I can't see the mountains and streams, the evergreens and hardwoods,the boulders and wildlife.
The thought: "Today is a beautiful day," has more to do with the idea that God is with me. He is in me and around me and cascading over those rocks like the water that gushed around nearly every turn and down every hillside in the tiny stretch of the Smokies that I traversed between the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains and Cades Cove.
Once inside the Cove, I reveled in the worship music I was playing. I couldn't get over the water imagery. Every drop of rain, every inch of stream that gurgled reminded me of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, how He is like a crystal clear deluge in the desert. He truly is. One song I played again and again repeats the phrase "we lack nothing"....and we don't in Christ. He is more than enough for all of our souls. The ache and bend of hunger comes roaring in when we shut Him out. Often we shut Him out by degrees. He calls us one morning and we do not come to our secret place with Him. We leave our Bible closed for a week. We mishandle our time, our talents, our resources and our emotions. The gap widens, the hunger grows, and we, like dim-witted sheep, attempt to feed it by grazing in barren pastures, elbowing our fellow wanderers out of the way for the scrubby weeds of of a sun-scorched field while the Shepherd waits nearby in a well-watered, nutrient-rich pasture. Quietly tending the wise souls who have sought constant refuge with Him.
The way home is so quick and easy! His eye is out for us! He is running toward us! He is scooping us up, binding our wounds, pointing the way back. Dinner in the good pasture is eaten with thankfulness. It isn't rushed. It is savored.
The thought: "Today is a beautiful day," has more to do with the idea that God is with me. He is in me and around me and cascading over those rocks like the water that gushed around nearly every turn and down every hillside in the tiny stretch of the Smokies that I traversed between the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains and Cades Cove.
Once inside the Cove, I reveled in the worship music I was playing. I couldn't get over the water imagery. Every drop of rain, every inch of stream that gurgled reminded me of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, how He is like a crystal clear deluge in the desert. He truly is. One song I played again and again repeats the phrase "we lack nothing"....and we don't in Christ. He is more than enough for all of our souls. The ache and bend of hunger comes roaring in when we shut Him out. Often we shut Him out by degrees. He calls us one morning and we do not come to our secret place with Him. We leave our Bible closed for a week. We mishandle our time, our talents, our resources and our emotions. The gap widens, the hunger grows, and we, like dim-witted sheep, attempt to feed it by grazing in barren pastures, elbowing our fellow wanderers out of the way for the scrubby weeds of of a sun-scorched field while the Shepherd waits nearby in a well-watered, nutrient-rich pasture. Quietly tending the wise souls who have sought constant refuge with Him.
The way home is so quick and easy! His eye is out for us! He is running toward us! He is scooping us up, binding our wounds, pointing the way back. Dinner in the good pasture is eaten with thankfulness. It isn't rushed. It is savored.
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