I turn on the news and listen. I try to hear between the spoken lines that people still do have hope. I hear nothing but voices tinged with fear, frustration, anger, righteous indignation. I understand.
I turn on the news and watch. I try to see in people's eyes that they still trust. I see nothing but faces full of worry, sorrow, exasperation, sometimes even hatred. I've seen some of the same looks on my own face recently.I turn off the news and look out my window. I see the beauty of our 50-year old magnolia tree, blooming its heart out, just like it does every year. This tree is full of hope.
I see daffodils that have come up from ground that hasn't seen a decent season's rain in many years. Their flowers are the softest pale yellow and the brightest golden orange. They are blooming almost as if in defiance of the drought we've been through.
It's been raining for days now, glorious, steady and pounding. This doesn't mean the drought is over. But it means we have rain today... now.... I can't help but feel more hopeful watching the rain. More peaceful. I feel that God is speaking to me through one of my favorite channels: nature.
"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these."
Matt. 6:26-30
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