Take Refuge...

When my dad lived in the family farmhouse on the Rathdrum prairie, our view was rolling hills of barley or alfalfa; our air conditioning was a breeze rustling through the grass; our music was birdsong floating across the acres.  My brother and I spent a lot of time playing outside, building forts, climbing trees, and running through the sprinkler.  Our skin was permanently streaked with dirt and our hands sticky with sap.  Sunrays bathed us in summer warmth and we were free…free of worry or to-do lists.  We were free to run and play and get knee-deep in nature. 

I think this is why I love nature so much to this day.  Fields and forest were our jungle gym.  The forts we built were our castles.  To this day, nature speaks to me on a visceral level and soothes my soul.  God speaks to people in the way that makes the most sense to them, and I know He speaks to me through His creation.  I have always said that the trees grow upward because they are reaching out for their Creator.  I look for my Creator in the beautiful world around me, and it is here that I usually feel the Spirit speak.

One late summer afternoon my dad put a sprinkler out on the lawn.  It was the fountain kind that is created by a very basic metal sprinkler head that has two holes in the top and sits flat on the ground.  The water sprays upward and arcs back down, watering a circular area of grass.  Looking out the kitchen window, I saw a sight that has stuck with me ever since.   Outside in the rain of water was a bird…I think perhaps a mourning dove…and her two babies.  Her young were fully feathered and probably learning how to fend for themselves.  It was a hot day.  The three had found the sprinkler and, like my brother and me so many times before, sought to cool off in the gentle spray.  The dove was doing something unusual, however, which had caught my attention in the first place.  As her young enjoyed the cool arcs of water, she was standing behind them, her wings outstretched.  At first I thought that perhaps she had been wounded somehow, that something had happened to her, but as I watched I realized that she was, in fact, protecting her young.  As they enjoyed the cool water and hopped about tentatively on the lawn, their mother was standing vigil behind them, keeping them safely ensconced in her wings.  She was vigilant, single-minded, and focused.  Her sole endeavor was to keep her babies safe.  It was a sight that kept me in rapt attention at the window even though I was only a teenager.

This, I now realize, is how God views us.  He is vigilant, He is focused, and His concern is for our safety.  He guards our souls as surely as that mama dove guarded her offspring against harm.  It’s a wonderful visual to carry and meditate on in times of need.  And so I hope that I can enjoy the cool rain and warm sunshine without fear, knowing that I have God’s vast and strong wings wrapped around me.  And so it is with you as well.  My prayer is that you will take joy in the wide wings of the Lord.

 

Psalm 91:1-4
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”
 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
    and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions,
    and under his wings you will find refuge…