Wednesday, November 9, 2011

November 9th

There is this park that is very near our house. It's full of trimmed lawns and stately trees and little winding paths.

A stream runs through it and there is a vintage disc golf course laid out under the trees. No one ever plays, but the iron baskets, painted a pale green, are in good shape and stand invitingly along the gentle slopes.

There are lovely, long views of hillsides and autumn color, with glimpses of still water through the trees.

Here and there, built into the hillsides, are stone steps. Sometimes they lead to a shady spot with a picnic table and a stone grill.

Sometimes they don't go anywhere at all, they just are. They just rest there in the grassy slope, scattered over with leaves and moss grown, and above them is nothing but a copse of trees.

There's one place in particular, with a round, flat lawn, bordered by a very low stone wall. The curve of this wall divides the thick grass from the shallow waters of a marshy pond that lie on the other side of it. The lawn rises up into a wooden hill and against the hill is a stone grill, under the thick shade of an oak tree.

I go walking there every day I can now. I like to go in the morning, when the light is still horizontal, making bright bands of sunlight and shade across the grass. The grass here is still green, almost as green as summer.

I don't walk alone. It's as though, as soon as I shut the front door behind me, I feel Him come alongside and take my hand, and we walk along together.

Sometimes we say nothing. Sometimes I just lean my spirit right into Him, in love and worship. I guess that's like another way of saying, I lift my heart up to Him. Only it's not up, because He's right beside me. It's as though He has His arm around my shoulders and I am leaning against Him.

And I just soak Him in, His presence and His love, and I think about Him. I think with joy and wonder, He is the Holy One of God! The Anointed! The King of glory!

And my soul is just flooded with wonder that He is right beside me, and I belong to Him. I'm under His authority, and called by His name. He claims me completely. This is the most delightful sensation and I abandon myself to the joy of it.

I keep thinking of this- I think it's a verse- He satisfies the longing soul. I suppose I'm thinking of it because I'm finding it to be so very true.

Ah ha! It is a verse. It's from a psalm, to be exact:

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.

They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way;
They found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty,
Their soul fainted in them.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
And He delivered them out of their distresses.
And He led them forth by the right way,
That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Psalm 107:1-9