While in Colorado, I took a trip to our nearby lake. I wanted to see it the day after our fresh fallen snow. It also gave me a chance to get a picture or two. Beautiful blue skies hung over the glass-like scene. As I sat, my eyes immediately fell upon something that struck me as odd. A single branch lay in the water, and I watched several birds perch themselves upon it. "That's interesting," I thought. I don't know why it struck me so to see several birds sitting on a branch. I guess it was the fact that they were from different families, different origins, different sizes, shapes, and colors. They were different - yet found a common ground. It didn't seem to bother them that though different they could share a space - a season - and a moment.
As I watched, I realized something I had known for a long time but pricked my heart differently - God created us to enjoy one another's company. God created us to share life-exciting moments: to live together and surround ourselves with one another's uniqueness. Yet - the world is filled with division, and those who wouldn't be caught in the same room with another, much - less sit on the same bench. The world is filled with those who reject others who are different from them in some form or fashion rather than embracing them because of it.
There are those moments that reach out and grab hold of us, and this was one of them. I sat in silence and prayed that God would bring us back to that, that somehow we could learn to live in perfect peace and harmony with one another, and that our uniqueness would cause us to grow closer to one another and not farther apart.
Our journeys would not look the same if that happened. Suddenly, we could rise and take flight - to play - to soar - to enjoy life. That's the kind of journey God wants from us. He wants us to skip, play, and splash through life. He gives us moments that pass in seconds. Let us not miss the beauty and fellowship each day brings and the blessings we can learn from one another.
May this New Year be filled with kindness, gentleness, and love.
Happy 2024!