By Kevin Barnhart
The sun was brilliant, shimmering off every blade of grass. The breeze was soft, and the birds were happily chirping around as we walked up and down the rows of fresh cut hay. It was 80 degrees, give or take as it is beholden to be if you are doing fieldwork, but all in all, the day was flooded with God’s love, light and goodness. My father-in-law had cut the field; we had prayed that the tractor would run after hours of fumbling mechanics, grumbling, and grimy work with dixie cups and diesel. I will let you use your imagination on how that all worked out. Yet, somehow, amidst the grandeur, glory and countless answered prayers, my soul was able to shade itself from God’s love, hide from His gentle whisper, and grind around in a shroud of gloom.
Laughter grabbed hold of my thoughts and my heart, and lifted my soul as I gazed over at the scene in front of me. As I lifted my eyes from my task, I saw my Father-in-law driving faithfully along with our 6-year-old gleefully running up and down rows of hay to help us pull out the poisonous milkweed. It had invaded the hay field, much like the gloomy thoughts and cares of this world that threaten to weigh down our souls.
Children are soaked with the grace of GOD. If you have a heart to see it, a child will linger on something with an incredible sense of wonder and awe. Things that perhaps to the adult have become mundane, ordinary, or even annoying … things like a dandelion, a night light, a faucet, running water, a tree, the wind, the fun of running the field with grandpa picking out weeds. Children are struck by the beauty and immense wonder of all creation and the created. Life is grimy; it is hard; it is, without fail, at one point or another, an uphill battle. BUT – and this is a big BUT – God promises to be with us, to know us, to love us; and in the end, at the end of it all, GOD Himself will give us eternal life everlasting (when we deserve nothing but death)!
Which brings us all the way back to the laughter that lifted my eyes that sunny afternoon. It is not a change of realities; it is a change of heart, a change of perspective. When we see only hardships, live with only envy, soak in grief, allow despair to sneak in, we will miss it. But if we lift our eyes to the heavens, if we intentionally look around and really see GOD walking beside us, something changes.
We are suddenly able to see, to feel, to know the goodness of God washing over our soul, as we pick out the poisonous weeds of this life, as we feel the sweat of our work, as we labor, as we cry, as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will be able to perceive, to know a God who offers us everything – a treasure worth more than anyone can ever begin to comprehend.
Sin, the devil, and our flesh will temp us to see the sorrow, to soak in the sadness, to grumble in the gloom, even to discount the ordinary blessings of life. But if we lift our eyes to the heavens, we will see, we will know the gift of God’s vast love.
The blessing of a baby’s cry, the giggles that float through the air, a soft smile across the room, a warm cup of coffee, the smell of fresh cooked bread, the nuzzle of a soft wet nose, or the glimmer of a large imploring eye, the warmth of a blazing fire, the sturdiness of the dixie cup – all of it. We will see the hayfield and not just the poisonous weeds; feel the breeze, not just the blazing hot sun. We will find hope, love and life if we turn our eyes upon Jesus. Who, for the JOY set upon Him, endured the cross just to be with who?
YOU, that’s who. Let your heart rest in that. Come what may, YOU HAVE JESUS, and nothing can ever take that away!
Amen.
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