Found by Faith

 

I had noted the passage in my journal but seemed to move away from it as I headed out to drive the beautiful foothills of the Berkshires.

“There are seasons when we hold onto our faith, and then there are seasons when our faith holds us.” Rachel Held Evans

I thought mistakenly it was up to me…

Suddenly I almost veered off the road when I noticed the floor of the now almost barren forest was glowing red. Faith had found me, grabbed me. Isn’t that what happened when Moses encountered the burning bush? I wonder whether taking off my shoes will sustain the hold.

So I wrote this:

I learned a lesson today

Beyond the loss of foliage on the trees

Is a gain of brilliance in the forest.

The denuded arboretum

Now opens to a spreading sprawling burning bush-like radiance

And reveals a glory unconsumed.

Take off your shoes

You are witnesses to holy ground

I had never paused before

Assuming winter darkness had irrevocably descended

Instead I had already resigned to wait for spring

And resurrection life

But that is what this is really

A winter resurrection

almost unnoticed

the ground is radiant

preparing that scarlet bed for

a long winter’s nap

with eyes wide open

Sometimes we actively search for signs

Sometimes hope finds us where we are unsuspecting

Faith holds us