Fall is the best, don’t you think? The brisk, refreshing air, bright blue skies, carpeting of leaves on the greenway path, and sprinkling of trees wearing dresses of orange or red almost make you ache with the glory of creation. I often find myself taking deep gulps of air and then rejoicing in the simple joy of walking amidst such wonder. If someone made us pay to enjoy such a choice privilege, we'd be willing to shell out the big bucks. Yet it's all for free. Day after day of glory and wonder. Amazing.
Isn't it funny how often joy surprises us in these simple, small moments? Laughter with a dear friend. Watching a football game over pizza with your family. Singing a beloved hymn. Sitting by a fire on a cool evening...better yet, with a good book in hand. The lovely bittersweet taste of really dark chocolate. The embracing warmth of a steaming bath. Sharing and bearing burdens with those you love. Listening to your child's concert. Eating a great meal with dear friends or family. Counting your blessings and giving thanks to God.
So many seemingly "small" incidents that add to an incalculable weight of joy and contentment and peace. Like little surprising gifts one after the other--the unfolding of life's ordinary but-oh-so-precious moments. Help us Father not to miss them...not to let them slip by unrecognized and unheralded. I don't want to miss the astounding glory of fall...or my family...or my friends...or any of Your good, good gifts.
This reminded me of something I read the other day by C.S. Lewis: "The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in. The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bath or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."
Yes, I'm so thankful for the gifts of all those "pleasant inns" along life's journey...to strengthen, refresh, and renew us. Enough so that we can keep our heads lifted and our hearts revived, but not so continual and unrelenting that we grip too tightly to this world and lose sight of heaven.
These inns--these often simple but sweetly profound moments of love or laughter, of friendship or food, of sharing or seasons--are all the tiniest foretastes of that great and glorious eternal joy of heaven. Little sips of glory along the way, not only to quench our thirsty hearts but also to whet our appetites for what's ahead.
Keep us thankful, Father, for all Your gifts, Your "pleasant inns" along life's sometimes wearisome journey...but keep us mindful that we're only passing through, for the best is yet to come. Might we never chase the gifts, but ever seek the Source, our glorious the Gift-Giver.
To God be the glory.
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