Reflections on Wonder

I sit on the grass for an unexpected picnic today. Needing to clear my head on this beautiful – but confusing – March day where I walk to a grocery store in order to get something for lunch. No restaurants open, including my favorite Red Elm café. When I consider the picnic benches, I decide it wiser to sit on the grass with the little English daisies, using my coat as my blanket. A sunny bright spot on this hill in Wright Park on a day that carries an onslaught of information, too much information that causes my brain and heart to restrict the oxygen I need. Looking down at the landscape, I see something beyond the noise. It’s wonder. Capturing an essence of presence and peace, I remember that God invites me to consider the lilies, in this case, the daisies of the field. Even in the midst of all this pandemoniun, I can see things differently. I look up and see the trees, some who have been around since the Influenza Pandemic of 1918. They are whispering, “Don’t forget, life continues on. Maybe not in the way you thought it would or should, but life offers more than what you could ever think or imagine. Don’t you see God’s abundance in the beauty of this day?”
 
I offer these words as encouragement, and a way to reach out to say you are not alone in whatever circumstances you find yourself in. In fact if you consider yourself a part of Selah, we want to offer community that says you belong, even when social distancing seems to be the necessary norm. On Friday morning, 10am PST, on Zoom, I’ll be offering an hour of time for pausing and realigning perspective in our Selah way, the same kind of pausing and realigning I needed from the gift of my spontaneous picnic. Should you want to join me, please email me at director@selahcenter.org. I’ll invite you to join me for the hour of time we have together. 
 
Yes, wonder in the abundance of God’s presence is what I hope for as we navigate this unprecedented time. And I hope to do it with others. 
 
Help Me Listen
O Holy One, 
I hear and say so many words, 
yet yours is the word I need. 
Speak now, 
and help me to listen; 
and, if what I hear is silence, 
let it quiet me, 
let it disturb me, 
let it touch my need, 
let it break my pride, 
let it shrink my certainties, 
let it enlarge my wonder.
Ted Loder, Guerrillas of Grace