I have a new favorite quote. I used it in my last blog I think. "Every walk is a new walk. Walk slow." Simple truths have such elegance. And it is true. In the almost six years I have been at Iten's Acres I'm sure I have walked my place literally thousands of times; and yet; I'm just as sure that no two walks have been the same. Different routes, different companions, different observations, different sounds, different smells, different weather. Every walk has been unique.
And, if you'll indulge me, let me give you a practical illustration. God has given me new beauty every walk the last five days. Last Friday I discovered gorgeous blue spiderwort coming up for the first time in my wild area--a whole patch of it. The angels had been busy planting when I wasn't looking. Strange name, beautiful flower. On Saturday three miniature roses decided to form a trio of color. And I found them all within steps of each other--a red, a darker red, and a lovely pink. I could stand in one place and enjoy them all--a symphony of color, a triangle of the glorious. Sunday was yellow day. Three yellow lilies--in flower beds, in the wild area, in the rock garden, two unknown by me yellow wildflowers, tall trollius by the pond and in the bog area, a yellow poppy in the meadow. The sun was leaving its fingerprints all around the acres. And each yellow was different--different shades, different heights, different forms, different leaves, different environments. And you had to walk the entire property to see them all. A walk for those with a "sunny disposition." Monday, if I wasn't "walking slow," I would have missed the new. Hidden in the middle of the lily bed was a small red agastache. Red, tub-like flowers, a hummingbird cafe. (I'm sure my ruby-throated friends prefer the natural sweetness to the artificial stuff in the feeder on Mom's window.) I had even forgotten--steel-trap mind that I have--that I had planted it there. But there it was. Unafraid to compete with lilies. Yesterday, the surprise wasn't found until an evening walk. Tritieleia. A small gorgeous purple and white flower. (See next Tuesday's June Blooms on fb for an up close encounter.) For some reason I always think that they should bloom earlier in the spring, and I've just about convinced myself that the little beauty must not be going to bloom this year and abracadabra! there it is. And always more flowers than there were the year before! Two beds with a new decoration. And you know what? When I walk today, it will be a new walk with new surprises. My imagination is no match for the real thing.
And sometimes my imagination runs away with me. I often wonder what it would be like if the Lord gave me another twenty years so I could see my vision of Iten's Acres take form. I could walk my place on earth and see all the shrubs mature enough to bloom, all the little trees I've planted actually look like trees, all the flowers I've started to naturalize having fulfilled their purpose with twenty years of spreading--I could have a thousand daffodils blooming in the spring. What if? Or even more outrageous, I sometimes wonder what it would be like to wake up one morning and see that while I slept my vision became perfected--everything mature, no weeds or grass in the flower beds, all the seeds I've planted germinated and abloom. One entire growing season--mid-March to frost--perfect in every way. Silly stuff. The first is highly unlikely; the second an impossible miracle. (That's redundant, eh? What would a "possible miracle" be?)
So, where do those ideas come from? Why with all the beauty that I actually have and enjoy on Iten's Acres do I feel pangs of dissatisfaction, a fit of "what if"? I think it's an Ecclesiastes truth. Even as God's child I will never be fully satisfied on this fallen earth populated by "chief of sinners" like myself. What does Paul say? "The whole creation is groaning, waiting for the day of redemption." God has put "eternity in our hearts," and we long for the new heaven and the new earth. And that's a characteristic of our eternal state we don't focus on enough in my opinion. God in His love for us is going to create a new earth. Do you wonder what Adam experienced on that seventh day? Do you wonder what that glorious creation looked like? As God's child you will enjoy and experience such an earth yourself--for eternity. Can you imagine that? Think of how breath-taking this fallen world is and try to envision the new one. Christ for the joy of spending an eternity with us in such a creation "endured the cross, despised the shame." "Hallelujah, what a Savior!"
Today, on my current Iten's Acres I will enjoy my walk and the beauty of God's world--weeds and all. My trees and shrubs will keep on growing at their natural rate. And, to be perfectly honest, I will take some pleasure in seeing that progress until my homegoing. And my soul will find rest in that simple but marvelous truth: there's a New Walk coming.
No comments:
Post a Comment