My apologies for the graininess of the picture above. (Look!
Do you see Sasquatch?!!) Look closely at
the middle of the picture, at that thick black tree branch.
After leaving church Monday afternoon, I took the schnoodle
for a walk in Fleming Park in the blessed late October warmth. As I walked
along the trail, I noticed that big black tree branch and wondered idly why it
was so different from the other branches. The walk itself had been beautiful,
with so many beautiful sights and smells.
The tree leaves were brilliant, and hawks and gulls wheeled about
overhead. The woods smelled ripe and crisp. I found that as I walked and
observed, I kept lapsing into prayer, thanking God for the beauty of the day. Other
times, when my thoughts moved to people or situations of concern, I would lift
them to God in prayer. It was that type of glorious walk that feels surrounded
by the presence of God.
Until that moment when I came nose-to-nose with that
unusually thick and black tree branch and realized that it was not a tree
branch.
It was a large black snake sunning in a tree.
All gentle and prayerful thoughts fled, and so did I. (The picture above was taken from a safe
distance, once I had stopped running and possibly screaming.)
As I write these words, I’m out of town at a seminar for
pastors. Ken Callahan is our leader,
author of many books over the past decades.
His teaching today urged us to focus on and claim our strengths and
those things that bring us joy. He
pointed out that to focus on those things that make us tense and anxious will
serve simply to give those things power in our lives.
Case in point: my lovely walk in the woods became Death
Encounter with Killer Snake in a heartbeat. My personal danger (which was, in
reality, nonexistent) did not change a bit from the moment before I noticed the
snake to the moment that I did see it. The snake was still sitting there,
happily sunning, but his happy snaky sunning changed my experience only because
I allowed it to. My reality didn’t
change, but what I gave my attention to did change.
I think Paul had it right in Philippians, when he said, “Finally,
beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever
is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”
(Philippians 4:8).
