Abiding

Sometimes it is the little blessings in life that keep wonder and hope alive; living in the present moment, noticing the commonplace. Thoughts of past struggles or future calamities are momentarily forgotten. Yesterday, I was biking on the Greenway when I came upon a deer. She was not more than two feet from me. I stopped, and she thought about fleeing, but then decided to continue with her lunch instead. No one else was around, and despite the hot day, the thick forest lining the path cooled us with its generous green canopy of shade. We communed silently for a few moments, still in the green oasis of suspended time. Finally, I got back on my bike and pedaled onward, feeling I had been given a gift.

C.S. Lewis said: Never, in peace or war, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment “as to the Lord.” It is only our daily bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received.

The moments I spend amidst nature are always a great comfort to me, especially when I am struggling through difficult circumstances. John Wesley said,  “Even in the greatest afflictions, we ought to testify to God, that, in receiving them from his hand, we feel pleasure in the midst of the pain, from being afflicted by Him who loves us, and whom we love.” That is true, but sometimes it takes a bit of time, maturity, and perspective to recognize pleasure in the midst of pain. Usually, all I feel in the midst of pain, is pain. However, I think God sometimes sends gentle creatures that would normally fear us, but instead abide with us, and remind us that one day, all fear, all pain, all suffering will be cast away. The wolf and the lamb shall peacefully coexist, and the fact that they once were mortal enemies will be but a pale memory.

Isaiah 65:25 

The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

Isaiah 61:1 

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.