Foggy Morning in June

It was foggy again this past Thursday morning so I tossed my camera into my bag as I left to drive to work. There weren't many others on the road at the time, which is one of the reasons I love mornings best. I passed this one favorite barn and it stood gracefully, dressed in all that misty beauty, but I kept driving. That wasn't the photo. I wasn't sure what *was*, but that wasn't it. Further along, as I rounded a curve I remembered a particular spot, and so I planned to take a photo there to see how the fog played with the clearing between some trees. As I approached the place and stopped (safely), I looked up and saw this.

One of the reasons I love fog is that it is such a great metaphor for faith. The fog limits my view and shrouds many of the very real and tangible elements in a space, but they are, nonetheless, truly there. I just can't perceive them well with my eyes. I suppose if I'd never seen those hidden objects or creatures before, I might assume they didn't exist at all. But they would be no less real either way.

Thursday morning, much of the scene was obscured, but standing in the center of my clearing was this deer, and a perfect metaphor himself.

Faith is not blind. Faith is informed, and acknowledges the limitations of our vision on any given day. I know there are things I can't see. This doesn't trouble me, but it makes me look harder, and listen better.

Insight works like this for me, too. When I have those sudden moments of clarity, I "see" something and understand. It was always knowable, always there, but I did not always perceive or understand it well. We, all of us, see only imperfectly, but we pray that one day, we will see more clearly, and understand more fully.

May our eyes be clear today.

Photo June 26, 2014.

Animals and God's Other Creatures

When I saw they were in the pasture, I called out to them a friendly, "Helloooow...!" There were three horses and two  donkeys. They turned to look at me and then came over to see me better. The first donkey eyed me curiously and turned away. He disappeared back toward the barn but returned moments later with his buddy. Those two are like twins, and they move and stand together in the most amusing fashion. I just love seeing all of these animals.

The animal world fascinates most of us as we explore the personalities and intelligence of the diverse creatures with whom we share our planet. I think of us as interconnected, all here with a different role to play, but yet all with the same purpose: to reflect the qualities of the Creator, by using our intellect and insights to good purpose.

The animal world is full and varied from the simplest single celled forms to the more complex creatures, with a range of qualities and personalities as diverse in between!

The invisible world is said to be the same, populated by intelligent creatures, angels and spiritual beings, of many bearings and features, with intelligence and purpose of their own. This may sound fantastical, of course. I recall a time in my life when the thought of angels and invisible creatures posed a real stumbling block to me. But it seems quite an acceptable construct to me now, and more acceptable as I peered back at these magnificent animals on the this past January morning.

I have already concluded that my dog is smart, with his own unique feelings, and affectionate qualities I regard as good. So you could say that my interactions with the animals around me have added substance to my faith in that mysterious world that can't be seen with the naked eye. It is not so difficult to understand that the created world has levels of intelligence in both the visible and invisible world, and that which I see is a reflection and lesson about the very large portion of Creation that I cannot see.

Whatever your own conclusions, aren't these horses and donkeys neat?

Photo from January 28, 2013.