July 1, 2008

Dear Friends,

            I was doing my early morning prayer walk a few weeks ago, and instead of the warm day I had expected, that morning a grey mist had settled on us, and it was damp, and a little cool.  As I walked around the property, I noticed unusual scents which the mist had trapped, damp earth and mulch, which I don’t often smell.  My skin felt clammy.  Things looked kind of blurry.  It just didn’t seem a normal morning.  I thought of how this mist was like when things just don’t feel normal in our lives, when things feel unnatural, uncomfortable, because they’re unfamiliar. 
            I saw that the mist kept me from seeing very far ahead of me in my walk.  I had to believe that the path was where I expected it, and just walk by faith.  I realized that we often feel like that, too, that we can’t see what is ahead of us.  That can be a scary feeling. 
And I had another thought.  There have been times in my life when I hadn’t seen very far ahead, when I hadn’t seen where God was leading me.  Those weren’t particularly scary, in fact, if I had seen what God had ahead I might have been afraid, or at least reluctant to go there.  I realized that sometimes the misty times are a gift, as God leads us places we might fear to go. 
As I continued to walk, the sun rose a little higher in the sky, and I saw that though the mist was lifting from around me, haze hung lightly in the sky.  The result of the bright morning sun through the hazy grey sky was breathtaking, and not what I usually think of as a beautiful sky.  It was as if the sky was a huge, shimmering pearl.  God was leading me to appreciate the ways in which he surprises us, giving us something wonderful through the gift of something we had not wanted in our lives. 
By my last lap around the church property, the sun had burned off the mist and I saw that this was going to be a beautiful day.  As I gratefully thought of all the lessons God had given me to better appreciate the misty times in our lives, I noticed one more.  As sunshine hit the ground, I saw that though the mist had gone, it had transformed spider webs, and grassy weeds, into sparkling, glittering jewelry.  I would never have thought them pretty on an ordinary day, but the mist gave me the ability to see beauty where I would never have thought to look.
I thank God for the misty times in our lives, and the promise of his sunshine to burn off the mist.  I pray for faith to trust his presence when things are scary and unfamiliar, and faith to walk when we cannot see.  I thank God for cloaking paths we would resist, and for the priceless gifts of beauty and wonder that he gives as we emerge from the uncertain into what God has for us.  When we face misty times, I pray the lessons God gave me that morning help us all walk with faith and see the gifts he has for us. God is truly amazing, and often unexpected.  Thanks be to God that he is.
 

In Christ’s love,

Rev. Ann