Good morning…
A longtime friend responded instantly to the photo in yesterday’s blog post, Hanging Up My Mask. For years our families lived in the same Vinings, Georgia neighborhood, her kids babysat our kids, and she is one of the committed people who completed our entire Gift from the Sea study last fall. Her email made me smile and helped me to remember back to a cherished phase in the life of our family.
“Loved the poster from your Ignatius retreat and your sentiments,” she wrote. “I’m sure it was taken at the very spot where I’m visiting. Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah. See some more pictures below. The formations are called hoodoos and were formed millions of years ago from water/erosion. Many of them have been named as they look like certain objects or animals. It is a majestic and awesome place with a spirit of its own! Hugs. Peggy Gallagher.”
I scrolled through Peggy’s photos, mesmerized by God’s majestic mystery.
I remembered back to when our family of six traveled cross country with our pop up camper and visited these same sacred, breathtaking views. In three trips, each three weeks, over three summers, we visited forty-one states. One of the most memorable places we experienced together was Bryce Canyon National Park.
“It was so fun to key right in on that poster in your blog,” Peggy continued. “Others may not have noticed the location, but I had literally been there the day before! God’s majestic beauty is everywhere out here. And here is the determined little tree. Still growing strong!”
God’s gracious grandeur is certainly everywhere, but there are some really thin places on our planet where the power of our Creator is undeniable. We cannot wrap our minds around God’s wisdom and knowledge! Its depths can never be measured! We cannot understand His judgments or explain the mysterious ways that He works! (Romans 11:33, VOICE). Our best response is to stand in complete awe.
“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the forest will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.
“‘I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it’” (Ezekiel 17:22-24, NIV).
Noticing the seed of the living Christ implanted in us, might we surrender our whole self to the mysterious work of the All-Powerful? The Sovereign Lord is determined to produce branches, bear fruit, and flourish from the topmost shoot, and I have no doubt God will do it.
Planted on earth as God’s topmost shoot, Jesus taught them this parable: “How can I describe God’s kingdom? God’s kingdom is like the smallest seed that one might plant in a garden. When it grows, it becomes a huge tree, with so many spreading branches that various birds make nests there” (Luke 13:18-19, TPT).
“The obvious meaning of this parable is that God’s kingdom will begin small but it will expand, grow, and mature,” says the footnote. “People from every nation will come and make a ‘nest’ in the kingdom of God.”
Staying firmly rooted wherever we are planted, just like this little determined tree, we will continue to branch out and bear fruit according to the Lord’s eternal purposes. Expanding, growing, maturing, may we provide a shady place, welcoming all people from every nation: “Come, make a ‘nest’ in the kingdom of God.”
…Sue…
