The backyard kingdom

Photograph by Christopher Drake

I recently read a book called "The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows." On p. 184, the author, James Bryan Smith, tells a story about how God visited him in his backyard:  

One day, in the midst of my effort to slow down and become present, I decided to take an afternoon to try to live 'deliberately,' as Henry David Thoreau put it. It was an unseasonably warm mid-February day, so I sat in an Adirondack chair in my backyard. Of course, the leaves had long ago fallen, but one bushy tree really stood out. Normally, I would never have paid much attention to this tree, and given the time of year I would not have spent more than a few minutes in the backyard. But there it was, and it had my full attention. 

After a few minutes I noticed something strange about this tree in addition to its leaves: it had lots of tiny grape-like berries. I began to wonder why it was full of berries at this time of the year. Because I had been in and out of prayer that afternoon, I turned my attention to God and asked, 'God, why is this tree full of berries?' Right on cue a little bird, the size of a finch, flew to the tree, skewered a berry and flew to a nearby bush where it dined. The Spirit whispered, 'That is why the tree is full of berries.'

It was as if the Sermon on the Mount was being preached in my backyard.

Try to slow down and connect with God today.

The greatest lover

One of the stages of a man's journey is the "Lover" stage. But it's about more than loving a woman. It's also about loving nature, cherishing what God has created, and receiving love from Him. John Eldredge tells a story on p. 182 of The Way of the Wild Heart about a time when he felt love from God while in the mountains:

I was still kneeling in the shallow water [of the stream], and as I looked down, my eye fell upon one small stone in particular, as if it were somehow illuminated, which is not quite right because it was one of the darker stones in the mosaic, almost black, so it could not have stood out for its brightness. But those of you who have had this experience will know what I mean, when in a crowd of people one face stands out to you almost to say look at me, or when you are reading a passage and one sentence causes you to stop and linger while all the rest of the page fades into the background but for that phrase. The stone was in the shape of a heart.

A kiss from God. A love note. I was being romanced.

God is the greatest lover. I felt the love of nature when I went pheasant hunting with my dad for the first time this past fall. While I really enjoyed looking around for pheasants, it was just great to be tromping around in God's country.