Hello,
I was watching some football on TV on Saturday when in the periphery of
my vision I saw something move outside the patio doors. A quick glance away from my game, and I
spied a deer calmly strolling across the yard, about 15 feet from the house. It stopped to smell the vegetable
garden that had long ago gave up its last harvest (maybe it was one of those
pesky deer that was always trying to sample our produce) and then it slowly
made its way to the tree line, taking in all the scenery as if it was a first
time New York tourist.
Not five minutes later, my football game was again interrupted by
movement in my peripheral vision.
This time as I glanced out the glass doors I saw two Labrador retrievers
striding along the same pathway as the deer, but their gate was no gawking
tourist pace, theirs was the determined stride of two high school boys out
looking for a fight. One was
stocky and black, the other was chocolate and sleeker. I don’t know where they came from; some
low security free ranging neighborhood yard, I suspect. Where ever they came from one thing was
certain. They were on a
mission. Their strides were in
lock step, and their eyes were being led by their noses. With their tongues hanging out, it
looked like they had sinister grins on their faces.
I would venture to guess that if that deer that had stolled by my house
had been aware of these two canine cruise missiles that were closing in on
their target, the deer would not have been so slow along its way. I didn’t hear any hooting and howling
of the dogs in the woods, and I didn’t see them retrace their tracks in reverse
past my house. So, I don’t know
what became of them and the deer, but my hopes for the deer’s preservation were
not high.
It would be nice, wouldn’t it, if we could stroll through life like that
deer, relaxed, pausing to take in all that is around us. The problem is, that unlike that deer,
we are aware of Labradors and bloodhounds in determined pursuit behind us: stocky health concerns, sleeker and speedier
bills to be paid, persistent parental fears, stalking job pressures…and those
are just the ones that we know of.
It is easy to find ourselves nervously hurried in our steps, our eyes
darting all around, not to take in the beauty and wonder all along the path,
but to try and spot the hunters before they spot us.
But once a week out of the shadows of the woods there comes a somewhat
soul startling, “Psst.” Its
surprise is enough to set all of our senses on high alert, and cause our hearts
to race. And then, there it is
again, “Psst. Over here. Come over here. It’s safe.” Is it a trap?
Who is it who sees us and beckons us over? And then it calls again, “Psst. Over here.
There’s nothing to fear,” and the inviter ends the invite by calling our
name. “You can rest your weary
bones here. You can nourish your
weakened muscles here. You
can calm your frantic heart here.
You can even pause and take a look at the beauty and the wonder of the
world here. Here the hounds will
lose your trail. Of course,
you can’t stay here forever, but the time that you spend here will give you the
strength and courage to make it through the next week, when I’ll call out to
you again.”
You hear the panting of the hounds behind you, you muscles ache and your
lungs beg for air. So, you do it….you
step into the dark, following the calling voice, and you discover, that
everything that the beckoner promised……..was true.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
No comments:
Post a Comment