My eyes opened from a time of silent prayer to see a hummingbird perched at the feeder just a few yards from my own perch. As I watched him, I became aware of other activity. Tiny golden moths were finding breakfast on the suet balls on the feeder hanging on the other side of the deck steps. At first I saw just three or four, but as I watched more intently, I realized there were dozens of them swarming not only there but around the lantana as well.
As I allowed my eyes to move further, I saw the grand design of my little world before me: a tremendous spider’s web stretching across the west side of wooden banister attaching itself to the water oak branches above. And at the top sat the golden silk orb weaver herself: a large banana spider. Motionless. It was at this point that I felt the Spirit of God well up inside of me and the only appropriate response was praise.
As I continued to sit and look, my eyes were opened even more. I became aware of the other activity in my limited space. A cardinal dropped down and grabbed a sunflower oil seed from her breakfast tube. Her male counterpart chased a large squawking insect across the deck. A squirrel skirted across the lawn while another jumped from the roof to a low hanging limb. A leaf of ivy twitched off and on alerting me to a presence of sorts there ... a small clan of very tiny green frogs. Two hummingbirds zoomed by; the bully domineering his feeder.
And then as quickly as it came, it was gone. This corner of my world stood absolutely still. I could no longer even see what once was a huge, brilliant web. As hard as I looked, I could not locate it. Yet I was positive it was there. It was literally a “now you see it, now you don’t” moment. The sun had shifted and with it everything changed.
Manifestation and hiddenness. The alternating seasons of feeling the presence of God very tangibly in our lives versus a sense of His distance or even absence. And if you’re like me, the latter seems the more prevalent, which is probably by design and what Paul meant when he wrote his second letter to the Corinthians: “We walk by faith and not by sight.” One is a blessing; the other is a building. One is about experiencing God. The other is about gaining an understanding of the deep things of God, of learning to trust and of being kept by Him.
As I ponder these two seasons that cycle in and out, could it be that the season of manifestation is where God delights us; and the season of hiddenness is where we delight Him?
Just an ordinary moment...
