I’m sitting in the Story Shack with the front and back doors open, listening to the birds sing and looking at a beautiful blooming vine a friend gave me years and years ago. I thought a storm destroyed it a while back, but this year it pushed its way out and is showing all that greenery around it a thing or two about spring color.
My mother has always loved the hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth,” a song of praise I now understand in a way I couldn’t before. I’ve found, in this time of solitude as Dave continues to recover and heal, great comfort in God’s creation and the powers of renewal he instilled in nature—in all of us. I see it out my door, and I see it in wounds that are slowly but surely healing.
A friend of mine from the Mississippi Delta once told me about someone who, when chastised for fishing on Sunday, would say, “I’m worshipping in God’s cathedral.” Being temporarily homebound has given me an appreciation for that—for worshipping in God’s cathedral. (Aside to Mama: I promise I’m not fishing on Sunday.)
Especially today, on what I think is our third Easter out of church—we’ve lost count, between COVID and hospital stays—the renewal out my door reminds me to give thanks and praise to God for the ultimate gift of renewal in Christ’s resurrection.
The video below is fuzzy, but the music and message aren’t—“Was It a Morning Like This?”
May God bless you and your family this season of Easter and Passover.