Cracks in the Canopy
I swayed back and forth, gently, as I watched the sky sparkle through the thousands of leaves above me. The solid green leaves turned translucent in the morning sunshine, transforming their summer dark green into a vibrant, almost glowing lime color. They danced, just barely, with the morning breeze, or maybe that was just my imagination. As I rocked back and forth in my hammock, eyes staring straight up into the vast blue cloudless sky, the whole world kind of danced.
Snapping out of my trance, I reached down for my Bible. I pulled it up into the hammock with me and turned to Luke, but then I set it down again, closed in my lap, and looked back to the sky.
The air smelled like summer - the type of summer that you smell in the morning while it is still cool from the moon and before the heat of the day arrives. Two birds sang back and forth, and although I could not see them, I could hear their carefree worship.
Maybe this is worship, too. No pews, no hymns, not even an open Bible. Just my eyes gazing upward towards patches of blue heavens between dancing green leaves. Just me and the birds, praising and being fully aware in that moment of God's quiet, holy presence.
I rolled over and grabbed my little notebook, the one in which I am keeping a list of 1,000 things I love. I added.
790. Looking through treetops at sky
I remembered reading the next chapter in Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts, in which she says, "I know what I want: the see deeply, to thank deeply, to feel joy deeply."
It all begins with seeing deeply. When we live with eyes wide open, we come to find God in the everyday, to find the holy in the common place, to find beauty in the mundane. Jesus says in Matthew 6:22 "If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness." Could this be part of the meaning - that perspective is what truly defines the quality of our vision? Good eyes - eyes that truly look for God - see light, see Him.
Voskamp also writes, "If my inner eye has God seeping up through all things, then can't I give thanks for anything?"
When we open our eyes to see God, He will begin to seep up through all things. It will be impossible to see things without seeing Him in it also. Like saturated soil, Living Water will seep up into everything we see, think, believe, do - everything that we are.
I also read from Voskamp that joy is found in God's presence and that "seeing shows the way in".
Show me the way in. I want to see, I thought to myself as I swung and breathed deeply of the summer air.
I slowly turned to Luke 2 again and tried to read without being distracted by God's trees and birds and sky and air.
"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night."
I stopped and stared at those words: keeping watch.
I continued to read about Simeon, the devout man awaiting the consolation of Israel. He was watching for Jesus, and when he saw him, he proclaimed, "My eyes have seen your salvation".
I turned my ipod to shuffle only to hear Sara Groves' song, "Eyes Wide Open".
I began to see a theme develop, and I determined to pursue it. I am now praying for "good eyes" that will see and behold the presence of God in the everyday. I am keeping watch, expecting to catch vision of God's glory in the common place - even if it is in the specks of sky between cracks in the canopy of summer leaves. For even that is worship.
Keep our eyes wide open, perhaps we will see something more.
Snapping out of my trance, I reached down for my Bible. I pulled it up into the hammock with me and turned to Luke, but then I set it down again, closed in my lap, and looked back to the sky.
The air smelled like summer - the type of summer that you smell in the morning while it is still cool from the moon and before the heat of the day arrives. Two birds sang back and forth, and although I could not see them, I could hear their carefree worship.
Maybe this is worship, too. No pews, no hymns, not even an open Bible. Just my eyes gazing upward towards patches of blue heavens between dancing green leaves. Just me and the birds, praising and being fully aware in that moment of God's quiet, holy presence.
I rolled over and grabbed my little notebook, the one in which I am keeping a list of 1,000 things I love. I added.
790. Looking through treetops at sky
I remembered reading the next chapter in Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts, in which she says, "I know what I want: the see deeply, to thank deeply, to feel joy deeply."
It all begins with seeing deeply. When we live with eyes wide open, we come to find God in the everyday, to find the holy in the common place, to find beauty in the mundane. Jesus says in Matthew 6:22 "If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness." Could this be part of the meaning - that perspective is what truly defines the quality of our vision? Good eyes - eyes that truly look for God - see light, see Him.
Voskamp also writes, "If my inner eye has God seeping up through all things, then can't I give thanks for anything?"
When we open our eyes to see God, He will begin to seep up through all things. It will be impossible to see things without seeing Him in it also. Like saturated soil, Living Water will seep up into everything we see, think, believe, do - everything that we are.
I also read from Voskamp that joy is found in God's presence and that "seeing shows the way in".
Show me the way in. I want to see, I thought to myself as I swung and breathed deeply of the summer air.
I slowly turned to Luke 2 again and tried to read without being distracted by God's trees and birds and sky and air.
"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night."
I stopped and stared at those words: keeping watch.
I continued to read about Simeon, the devout man awaiting the consolation of Israel. He was watching for Jesus, and when he saw him, he proclaimed, "My eyes have seen your salvation".
I turned my ipod to shuffle only to hear Sara Groves' song, "Eyes Wide Open".
I began to see a theme develop, and I determined to pursue it. I am now praying for "good eyes" that will see and behold the presence of God in the everyday. I am keeping watch, expecting to catch vision of God's glory in the common place - even if it is in the specks of sky between cracks in the canopy of summer leaves. For even that is worship.
Keep our eyes wide open, perhaps we will see something more.
Comments
Post a Comment