Shadows

It is fitting that as the long cold days of winter stretch on, we pause to honor a large ground dwelling member of the squirrel family who gorges on food in the fall til his eyeballs barely show beneath the rolls of adipose tissue. He does so with the express and God-sent purpose of sleeping through all those icy days, until some more intelligent being drags him from his toasty den, holds him up blinking in the sun, and declares that since he casts a shadow, winter will go on 6 more weeks.Usually the ground hog does not even get a bite of the celebration cake before being shoved back in his hole til next year.

It is feast or famine for the ground hog. Approximately 9 months of gorging and then 3 months of living off his fat. I imagine his mood corresponds to this life-style. I'll bet a wooden woodchuck that during the food engulfing stage, he is on a manic high. The world looks sunny whether it is or not, because a full stomach can work wonders for one's squirrely disposition.  But did you ever wonder why Punxsutawny Phil looks so grumpy on the day named in his honor? He's hungry! He hasn't eaten for three months. Think how you feel after missing a cup of coffee!

Yesterday, Asherel and I read about a similar sudden shift, a famine to feast adulation. In Acts 28, Paul has just been shipwrecked on the island of Malta, when he is bitten by a viper. The people there proclaim him to be a demon or a criminal at least who is now getting what he deserves and they sit near to watch him swell up and die. But instead, nothing happens, and so they "change their minds and decide he is a god."

It just strikes me as fickle. On one hand he must be a demon....nope, I guess he is a god. Shadow: must be 6 weeks left of winter. No shadow: must be spring is just around the corner! Lots of good things happening- God loves me. Bad things happening- God hates me. We are such an either/or kind of species. At least I am. I know I tend to fall off the bell curve a little more often than others, but still.....

What is the modulator, the smoother, the evener, the way to remain on an even keel despite feast or famine, shadow or no shadow, good or bad circumstances? Is God there or is He dead? How do we know? How do we live as though He is when everything screams at us that He isn't, when we don't see Him after an already long and bitter stretch of frozen hope?

I think He always casts a shadow. We may not see Him in the flesh, not yet, not anymore....but we can see the shadow of His presence. There are too many examples to name, but every word of encouragement, every "coincidence" that gives us pause, every outpouring of love, every blessing of our lungs inhaling another breath, every inexplicable answer to prayer, or persistent sense of Hope against impossible situations.... those are all shadows of God I think.

Paul was shipwrecked on Malta, which means "refuge". That is the shadow the Bible describes God as eternally casting. He is our refuge. We are always in the "shadow of His wings". I think it is one of the great ironies in the Bible that on an island named Refuge, the inhabitants don't yet know the source of their refuge. They scurry from perceptions of demon to God because they don't understand that one basic tenet of existence, the one steadying factor, the one thing that keeps us from vacillating wildly from delight to despair. We are standing right now in the shadow of His wings, in His island of refuge.

Another irony is that in the shadow of His wings, we see light. If we have breath, I believe it is He who sends it. And when we no longer have even that, we are carried instantly to His side where we will no longer be in His shadow, but in His presence.

Happy Ground Hog day- may we all find refuge in the Shadow that is the only true shelter from the storm. And in the shadow, may you see light.

Psalm 36:
 ⁵ Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,
   your faithfulness to the skies.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
   your justice like the great deep.
   You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.
⁷ How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
   People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house;
   you give them drink from your river of delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light.