What do I see that speaks to me of God? As I contemplated this today, I found myself standing before the undulating pine tree. It was as if it was doing a slow, barely detectable dance...one you couldn't see from very far away, but quite mesmerizing up close. It appeared that there was no wind, even as the living stack of verdant branches was 'doing its thing'. It didn't seem to care whether I noticed it or not. It just moved in a living rhythm, seemingly for it's own pleasure (or for the One who made it).
After a drenching rain, nearly each pine needle seemed to be oozing droplets of water, which graced like diamonds the waving branches which so proudly displayed their tiny wonders. The pine aroma aroused a deep affection as shadowy memories of color, texture, and scent wafted over me. I was in awe...of what stood before me, the past it grabbed swung around like a scarf and the nostalgic sense of future anticipation proffered an amazing coming of something that you can only feel by being surrounded by the natural world.
I stepped back as its liquid descenders leaped to land somewhere upon me. As I turned away, another coniferous wonder confronted me; this time with fronds of green that were like exact duplicates of the the finest feathers I've even seen.
I knew in that moment that I could never capture the enrapturing nature of that with which I was now overcome, even as I attempted to do so with my far inferior camera of my cell phone. I had the sense that this moment was something more for me to share between me, the tree, and God than with anyone else. Though I nearly burst to tell of it somehow...what I am doing here.
One comment eeked out a few minutes later, 'wonder and worship are sometimes like siamese twins'.
