I flipped my Jesus Calling calendar at home to September after spending a week on Bois Blanc Island with Barb and Chuck Maki. The picture for September above reminds me of a special moment (one of the very many) during my time on the island where God’s presence is there for those who will see and hear. That feather looks as if it could be on the move.
Four of us sat around the breakfast table on one of our last days there and we prepared for Barb to share grace for the morning and the food before us. From their cottage, you have but to raise your eyes to look out and see the beauty of Lake Huron before you.
We had had a storm and the lake had become angry, roiling and rolling as the storm and wind whipped the surface into a myriad of whitecaps – many eventually crashing upon the shore. We ran about in the storm securing the things that needed to be taken care of, disliking the wet, but laughing and joking along the way. We were companions in the journey, moving toward being able to take respite in the cottage. Even after, sometimes having to brave the storm again, donning still wet articles of clothing, yuck, to go out to secure or re-secure.
On this morning as we sat at table, the storm had passed and the lake had returned to a calmer presence in our world. We bowed our heads and Barb spoke to God. She thanked him so graciously for things we rarely think of and take for granted but then came the moment – it punched me in the heart and made it clench.
She said quietly, “And thank you Lord for calming the waters after the storm but we can still see it moving. You remind us God, that you are still on the move in us and in this world.”
My heart clenched with joy, I felt it, Barb said it, and I knew it – my heart told me “Praise God for Barb, she is right!” God IS on the move and we must move with him if we are to be His disciples.
We had a lake to remind us but, really and truly, it doesn’t matter where we are. God is always on the move everywhere. And when God is on the move that means he is often trying to move us! Open your eyes to see; open your ears to hear! Are YOU ready? Are YOU willing? Don’t stop to pack for the journey, God is all you need. Go!
~Shauna Weil