Weekly Devotions for 6/1

Sights and Insights

Devotion for June 1, 2021

When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

From ages past no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who works for those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:3-4, NRSV)

I have discovered a tufted titmouse nest in a tree just beside my deck. Well, I haven’t actually seen it. It is in a hollow of the tree, completely hidden from sight. I have just recently become sure of its existence, however. I’ve noticed a tufted titmouse flying around the area for a few weeks, but that was from looking out my kitchen window. It was only in the past week that I have taken some time to sit on the deck. As I have done so, I noticed the bird flitting around. Eventually I realized that every time it landed on the branch beside the hollow, a high-pitched chorus went up. The bird would then fly into the hollow for a moment and then fly off, and the chorus would cease. It was hungry chicks being fed! Soon I noticed that there was in fact a pair of birds taking turns bringing food and then flying off into the trees away from the house.

I have still not seen the nest or the chicks, but I have put together enough clues to surmise their presence. Truly, if I had taken the time earlier and was more aware of what signs to look for, I could have realized that the nest was there much sooner. I was, alas, to preoccupied with other things and separated from the reality of my yard by the walls of the house. Thus, I missed the signs that were already there. Who knows what other wonders may be in my backyard that I am unaware of how to notice?

I daresay that our awareness of God is similar to my awareness of the tufted titmouse nest. We cannot see God directly, but the signs of God’s presence are around us. Most of the time, however, we are too preoccupied with our own concerns to notice them. Further, we separate ourselves from the world that is around us, causing us to miss many of the signs. Even if we were to see them, we do not know how to interpret them to come to the realization that God is in fact present with us.

 This is where taking some time out to sit and be matters. It allows us to notice what is around us and come to a broader sense of what God is doing. So too engaging in spiritual practices and reading the bible give us insights into what the signs of God’s presence look like so that we can recognize them when we see them. We will not see God directly in this way, but we are able to surmise God’s presence.