I joined a half dozen other people snapping pictures of an incredible
sunset at a retreat center. I whipped out my cell phone intent on capturing the
combination of sun and clouds that made for such a display. As I
turned to leave, the thought came to me that often, the pictures I most love
are not the obvious ones, so I knelt down on the ground and took a few shots of
the coastal marsh now bathed in light filmmakers call the “golden hour.”
It was several days later before I even stopped to look at the photos. The sunset was glorious, and most
of pictures turned out the way I thought they might.
But that thought about loving the less obvious shot more turned out to be
right.
The coastal marsh picture is the one that drew me in―the print of which
I have beside my easel right now as I try to capture it on canvas. This is untouched, folks. No filters.
In I Kings 19, when God told Elijah He would pass by Him, a wind, an earthquake, and a fire occurred. But God was in none of these. Instead, God came in a “gentle whisper.” It was only then Elisha heard God.
Sometimes in life, we get so caught up in doing what everyone else is
doing, we don’t hear that gentle whisper of God leading us in the way He would
have us go. We can miss the best simply because we
aren’t willing to turn down the volume of racket in our lives to hear him and
be willing to follow a less obvious path. That path is often filled with lovely
surprises, just like my marsh picture.
Now, you may look a little strange as I did, sprawled out in the grass
turned in a completely different direction from the others, but this is the picture that made me
want to tell its story.
So, let’s be tuned in to the gentle whispers.
We don’t want to miss a thing God has for us.