Footsteps to Follow: Quiet moments in nature
In the last watch, the coldest and darkest part of night before the dawn, a single bird stirs and then sings. Who selects the single bird with the loud, clear voice, and who awakens it before there is any daylight? Its song gives cheer and hope to people who have been unable to sleep. The long night is over. As dawn lights the horizon, the other birds hear and join the song and proclaim a new day.
Their song reminds us that God’s “compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22b-23 NIV). How many people have paused to listen to the birds’ song and realized they are not the first to be unable to sleep but that there is potential in a new day? How many have listened and remembered that God will go with them through this new day?
God provides us with these quiet moments in nature. They take our attention away from our flickering screens and our routines filled with busyness. These moments cause us to focus on what is really important: God’s presence all around us and our special place in God’s world.
As dawn lights the horizon, a doe turns for home. Who created this powerful creature with a dainty, graceful stride, and who helps her find her way home in the twilight? Her presence gives cheer and hope to those who are awake so early in the morning. Her home is in a patch of woods surrounded by suburbs. She cautiously makes her way through neighborhoods filled with cars, bright lights, barking dogs, thumping wind chimes, and other distractions and threats. She pricks her ears, scans the area, considers, and then carefully jumps over fences with a powerful grace. How many people have stopped their tedious early morning routine to watch her walk by? Her incongruity in our paved environment reflects her special niche. We are reminded that God has a special niche for us, too, although we sometimes have to cautiously make our way through lives surrounded by harsh noise, distractions, and other threats.
The doe gives birth to her fawn, or two or three, in a quiet field or backyard. Who created progeny with camouflage spots and only a faint scent at birth (which the doe tends to), to help safeguard it? The doe places her sleepy offspring where it will be safe: in the sheltered corner of a stone wall and hidden in a patch of goldenrod. After feeding nearby, she will return and care for her fawn. If it doesn’t pass her inspection, she will bathe it the way a mother cat will bathe its kitten. Who taught her to care for her fawn, which she tends so carefully?
Later, in the summer, the doe will walk with her offspring along an old deer path, now a paved street. She will teach it the way to conduct itself as they go to a special place: a buffet yard with a grape vine, lilies, rose buds, a tender privet or azalea hedge, plus hostas for dessert. If her fawn, new in the world and curious, is not attending to her lesson but looking around and cavorting like a colt, she will recall its attention by making a strong huff deep in her throat. This sound is a warning to be cautious, and her fawn will be still and listen to her. If we consciously pause in our routine to step outside and look and listen to God’s wonderful creation, we might observe a doe’s special lesson.
The variety of God’s world and the creatures in it should fill us with awe. There is life in a single drop of water caught in a flower pot. If we look down, we can see ants working at a sidewalk near our feet, following their own routine. If we look up, we can see sparrows, hawks, and eagles. God, who made the drop of water, also made the sun, moon, and stars, and the billions of galaxies above us. Our knowledge and technology are limited, and we can only estimate the number of galaxies. We should be humble as we consider that people hold a special place in God’s creation.
These quiet moments not only make us aware of God’s presence, but they remind us to seek God’s words. Some of the most beautiful words in the Bible refer to God’s creatures. Psalm 102:7 states: “I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.” Psalm 42:1b states: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, my God.”
These comparisons offer hope, strength, and encouragement. Isaiah 40:31 states: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Now, you take a quiet moment, and read Luke 12:6-7.
Joan Schell, volunteer editor for United Churches of Lycoming County