Dear Friend, How are you? Hope you had a good day or are having a good day, today? A few weeks ago, I wrote about short Me time with the Father that I resumed outdoors earlier this year. I still recall the first day in the Christian school. It has been quite a long time till I resumed short Me time with the Father. Sitting on the bench of the campus, I was busy in my mind for the first few minutes. I thought to myself, “Shall I pick up my small note in my bag and read what I wrote there long ago? Or shall I read a Scripture or two in the Bible application of my mobile phone? But, I only have 30 minutes and I don’t want to look at the phone at least for this moment. But what shall I do?” Then, I felt some impression in my heart, as if the Father said to me, “Just relax. Lovers don’t talk to one another all the time. Stay quiet. It’s ok not to read the Bible nor try to meditate on it right now. Simply enjoy the time with Me.” Immediately, I had peace. It wasn’t religion, but relationship. He reminded me of it. So, even without trying to say something to Him in my heart, I simply enjoyed watching sky, clouds, trees, butterflies, and so on, and enjoyed birds’ singing. And Me time with the Father is simply enjoying His beautiful works in silence. In one Sunday morning in early July, when mom and I went out for our cafe walk, I came to see a crow walking to a big plastic bag of rubbish and trying to take out something to eat, using its beak. It was very near from us and I found its way of walking so cute that I took its video. Later in the morning, I went to the Christian school campus for Me time. On the bench, drinking the coffee in my tumbler, I watched the sky. Lo and behold, there were five crows. Many times, when I watched birds flying in the sky, I thought of Psalm 29: The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!” (Verse 3~9) I still think the birds I happened to see must have heard the voice of the Lord and they flied or walked just at that moment. Nothing was coincident. In His kindness, He showed me those beautiful birds fly or walk around me, by His voice, I think. Then, later in that afternoon, I opened a new chapter “The Beauty of Holiness” of Eugene Peterson’s “As Kingfishers Catch Fire.” To my amazement and amusement, I came to read: “Ten years ago Jan and I decided we wanted to become bird watchers. So much grace and melody and color - beauty - was swirling around us, and we were oblivious to it. We decided to be oblivious no longer. Early in our enthusiasm a young friend who was an accomplished bird watcher visited us for a few days. We made him pay for his supper by teaching us what we needed to know. …. He was a patient teacher. He kept reminding us of what to look for: flight patterns, silhouettes, habitat. Gradually through the years, we see more. We’re not experts by any means, but we do see birds where we never did before. The change has come about because we were taught to look, notice, be attentive. And when we don’t see any birds, we know better than to complain that we live in a part of the country that is deficient in birds. Rather, our eyes have become lazy, our attention spans atrophied. Our self-preoccupation had reduced us to tunnel vision.” I smiled and grinned as I read this. I knew God spoke to me through Eugene’s book as well as His beautiful creatures, including birds. I felt that He orchestrated the crows I had seen earlier that day, as He already knew what chapter I would read later on that day. And my short Me time and walk with the Father indeed was to relax and enjoy His wonderful artworks in nature. I got free from religiosity. I didn’t have to try to do something, but enjoyed silent communion with Him, listening to the beautiful songs of birds. Just like Eugene and Jan, his wife, I also tried to be attentive to birds. To my amazement, I found out that in the downtown where I live, there seems to be more than 7 different birds. There is joy in trying to be more sensitive and attentive to His beauty through His handwork. And it becomes worship: Wow, Father, they are so awesome. Thank You, Father! I’d like to share more from Eugene Peterson’s writing in the chapter, The Beauty of Holiness: “Beauty is the outside and holiness the inside of what is essentially the same thing: life full and vibrant, life God created and God blessed, life here and now. … When we sense the pulse and surge of life within and around us, our spontaneous response is to worship. Worship is the most soul-involving, reality-assimilating act available to human beings. We are most ourselves, most our image-of-God creaturely selves, when we worship: “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” … Beauty. It arrives through a sustained and adorational attentiveness to what is there: a rock, a flower, a face, a rustle in the trees, a storm crashing through the mountains. When our senses dull and our attention wavers, writers and singers and artists grab us by the ears and say, “Look, listen, feel. Embrace and respond to Life within and around you!” That is what the praying poet of Psalm 29 is doing. … Friends, this is going on all the time. Mostly all we need to do is look and listen, touch and taste, Not infrequently our senses dull; we get distracted and need apostolic help. If we are lucky, an artist or writer or singer or child or pastor shows up with the image or word or song that connects us with the life right before us. If we’re very lucky, this apostle will be at home with both the outside and inside of life, the beauty and the holiness, and before we know it, we are again in on it, worshipping - worshipping the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” While I was writing the draft of this blog and reading it on the sofa in the living room, I frequently watched the window and enjoyed beautiful clouds with a hint of crimson color before sunset. Lo and behold, a couple of cute birds were flying very high in the air. :) Absolute delight to them and to me. I imagine the Father was smiling at me, after His voice made them fly just at this moment. Yup, He watches over us. Friend, would you like to take some moments today or tomorrow to enjoy the beauty of holiness and worship our Creator and our King? Hope this blesses you. Have a bliss! Julie Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Comments are closed.
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