– Secret Place Insights –
Dear One, in the winter 2019, in a house so quiet that I could hear a bird scratching at the suet hanging from a garden hook, I sat staring out the dining room window beyond the snow-covered picnic table to the surrounding woods. Except for a few flakes of snow, nothing was moving outside, or inside, for that matter. The view from every window had the look of a Currier and Ives painting.
I felt displaced. It was Sunday morning, and I was home, alone. Before, Ron left for church, he insisted on first running into town to get me some Pepto Bismol. Everyday, since I got sick, he researched what might help me feel better. After making me a slice of toast, and a drink of one part orange juice and five parts water, another new remedy, he took off again, this time for church. His parting words were a last reminder that if I had not improved by afternoon, he would be taking me to the walk-in-clinic. He got not argument from me.
Carrying a luxuriously soft blanket, I moved to a living room chair. From there I took in a breathtaking scene of a nearly opened field to the woods beyond, perfectly covered with a blanket of pure white snow. I thought, I am not missing out on Sunday worship, I am in the midst of it. For I sat in awe of what lay before me, a work of art by the hand of God. The purity of winter-white inspired a deeply reverent sense of God’s Righteousness, His Majesty, and His Holiness. From horizon to horizon, to the clouds above, nature’s sign language echoed like no pastor could the Reality of the Great I Am.
And surprisingly, in that moment, I gained an understanding, one which had baffled me for years.
The summer that I was sixteen, and lived in McBain, I accepted Christ. That Christmas break I rode with a friend or two, and one or two pastors to a Christian, winter camp outside of Traverse City. As we traveled north, closer and closer to Lake Michigan, huge, white, lake-effect snowflakes began to slowly float from heaven to earth, and with them a quiet settled over the passengers. The splendor was palpable. When we arrived at the log cabin compound, every sound was muffled by beautiful layer-upon-layer of lake-effect snow, and every scene stood alone as a work of art in a winter wonderland.
The retreat was my first experience with studying and sharing God’s Word since I had accepted Jesus Christ. While I sat in my living room, I suddenly realized that the link between God’s purity and pure white snow were, for me, inseparably linked.
Oh, how thankful I was for that latent understanding. For I had sometimes thought that I loved the snow too much, that it was weird, maybe unhealthy. But no, finally I understood. I don’t love snow too much. It’s God I love. The gorgeous Northern Michigan lake-effect snow simply reminds me of God – His purity, holiness, righteousness, and unfathomable love for Mankind.
When Ron got home, I had improved some. From the sermon’s notes he had taken, he shared the pastor’s sermon with me. It was a good one, but I couldn’t help but think that staying home, that particular Sunday, wasn’t all that bad.
“And you shall love the LORD your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
mind, and with all your strength. This is the
first commandment. Mark 12:30
Blessings,
Susanne
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