Watching, Listening

I love this time of year. The temperature drops below 70 degrees during the night, so we can have the windows open to cool the house. What do I feel as the coolness wafts in, flowing as if it is the Holy Spirit? I am feeling the Reality that is beneath all the surface reality of our day-to-day lives. I am feeling the presence of God the Creator.
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I love this time of year. The temperature drops below 70 degrees during the night, so we can have the windows open to cool the house. What do I feel as the coolness wafts in, flowing as if it is the Holy Spirit? I am feeling the Reality that is beneath all the surface reality of our day-to-day lives. I am feeling the presence of God the Creator.

I go out in the early morning darkness to get the newspaper that's at the end of the driveway. I pause to look up, and, at during these days, at our location in the earth's hemisphere, I see the Little Dipper. But what am I seeing? I am seeing the Reality that is beneath all the surface reality of our day-to-day lives. I am seeing the presence of God the Creator.

I put the newspaper on the kitchen counter, pour myself a mug of coffee and go outside to sit on a rocking chair on the screened porch. I listen in the darkness, hearing the insects' cacophony in the woods. I sip my coffee and wait. About 20 minutes before sunrise the first bird calls. Another responds, perhaps 100 yards away in the woods. How do they know that the sun is going to rise in 20 minutes? It's miraculous! They are greeting, with joy, a new day! But what am I hearing? I am listening to the Reality that is beneath all the surface reality of our day-to-day lives. I am hearing the presence of God the Creator.

Turn off your devices. Look up from your screens. Watch for God. What deep joy there is in this!

Take out your ear buds. Listen for God. What deep joy there is in this!

Pastor Andy Ballentine

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