Back Yard Cathedral

I am a morning person. No question about that. Come 6:00 and I am ready to get on with my day. Being a morning person — and Carol is definitely not — gives me time to have a favorite breakfast, check a little bit of tv while eating, then spend some time in devotions. This time with God is precious and an important part of my days. Things become clearer, my mind relaxes, and my heart tunes with God.

Recently I decided to once again go outside for my devotional time. Weather does not always allow that but it definitely did this morning. Carol and I got our new patio and pergola put in last summer, and we have had a grand time with it. It is indeed a lovely place.

That particular morning was pretty special. It was about 7:00 and the temperature was about 70 degrees. The sun was just coming up, streaming through the branches of trees, and a gentle breeze moved through from the West. The tree branches, the landscaping, grass, and surrounding bushes and weeds all responded.

I have a very large walnut tree in my backyard. I don’t know trees that well, but I know this one is walnut because every fall I need to pick up what seems to be thousands of walnuts and move them off my grass. Fortunately I have a large natural barrier between my property and the duplexes next door that runs right by the walnut tree. It gives us some good privacy, and me a place to put all those walnuts. There are several other large trees about the same size close by and they form a kind of ceiling. The rising curvature of the trunks and the ridiculously rich green create that ceiling resembling the sanctuary in a gothic cathedral. This particular morning while I was listening to scripture being read on an app on my phone it dawned on me that this was a place I was supposed to be. The trees ascended and formed a partial green covering, then suddenly opened to revealed a perfect blue sky with only a few wisps of cloud moving along.

My devotional time continued with daily readings from Keller and Yancey, followed by a time of prayer. The whole time was rich with God’s gentle presence calming me and moving me to silence. Silence is not easy in our world anymore. Distractions seem constant. Sometimes it takes moments like this to get us to be quiet, while we listen and God talks. This brings to mind a time when someone asked Mother Teresa how she prayed. “God talks and I listen, then I talk and He listens,” was her direct, to the point answer.

My little backyard cathedral reminded of a couple of places in Scripture that speak to the beauty and majesty of creation. The very first few verses in Genesis say that God was pleased with it all saying, “That’s good.” Psalm 8 starts out by declaring the majesty of God's work and how his glory is reflected in all of creation. Psalm 24 declares that all of the earth belongs to God and reflects his glory.

Oh yeah, let me tell you about a little squirrel. He comes each morning to my patio and stays for a few moments. He showed up this morning also. If he has found a storage place on my patio for walnuts I have not discovered it yet. This morning, he went about half way down the main trunk of the large walnut tree and stopped and glared at me for a bit. It was like he was saying, “Uh…excuse me, but are you finished yet?” In my crazy frame of mind, I spoke to him saying, “Ok, kid, don’t get all impatient with me. You’ll get yours soon enough.” Ultimately he left and went to another part of the tree. I thought, God takes care of his creatures, and the squirrel lives in a walnut tree…I mean…it can’t be better than that, right? Don’t worry, I don’t talk to squirrels on a regular basis.

I know not all mornings are like this. Some are cooler, overcast and not as lovely. God, however, is the same, and is continually calling us to be silent before him.

I love Psalm 46, verses 1 and 10. “God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble.” Verse 10 speaks to the silence that I experienced this morning, “Be still and know that I am God.” This morning I seemed to experience something that was bigger and more profound than I. It silenced me and I have a feeling it changed me also.

Thanks be to God.