Delightful Details

Thursday May 26th I ran some errands at the end of my work day and just soaked in my drive time, enjoying the scenic travel. Sometimes I like to pretend I'm a tourist and drink in my surroundings. This time I pulled out my camera and took some video from the car window of everything from downtown Lancaster to the farmland of Lancaster county. I'm not putting all of those up. But when I got home, I also took the below silent video.

So often when I come home at the end of a day I walk from my car to the door with blinded eyes and a full mind. I would say, however, that almost always there is a sense of welcome, refuge, and pleasant relief at finally arriving home at the end of a day. But how many times I miss soaking in the beauty of the details God intricately holds together in this small sample size of his much larger creation. Although it is the same path, the same home, each day - each day the surroundings are actually unique and wonderfully made by God in how they are affected by various variables like time, weather, people, and animals.

I often think the same when I arrive to work at the church farm property in the mornings. There may be a haze over the hill, or the sun may be shining quite brightly and warm even in the early morning. Snow may cape the roof of the barn, or spring flowers may be swaying in a summer-like breeze. Birds could be chirping, or obnoxious turkey vultures may line the peak of the barn with their wings spanned out to dry. Grass may cover the hill where our building will one day be, 3 feet long and rippling in the wind like waves on the sea - or the farmer may be mowing down grass for hay, mimicking the effects of a barber's razor.

When I stop, even for just one full minute, to observe and enjoy these details I get to experience delight in God's creation. His creation reflects himself, and can deliver a contented joy to my soul.

Below is that clip from the other Thursday. I love our home and the life and care that is cultivated here. I like how this moves from the detail of our front door to the driveway out to the road. Maybe I'm too sentimental, sappy, or cheesy, but it reminds me of the beauty of receiving nourishment from such a home and then taking it out on the road to wherever and whoever God may direct you to that day.

Matthew 6:25-33
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more cloth you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

photo: Crossway farm property

taken on Matt's phone Easter weekend