When God Waits for You

One of my favorite times of the day is when I head out on my evening walk. Visiting our familiar haunts, my dog, Shalom and I wind our way through the neighborhood. We regularly meet other dogs and people enjoying the summer evenings. Most evenings I play a little game; better known as a beauty scavenger hunt. I believe God, like beauty, waits for us to awaken to His splendor.

In this season, beauty is often easy to find, every type of flower blooms in almost every yard. We have had plenty of rainfall ensuring lush greens, brilliant blooms and picturesque farm fields.

Each evening blesses me with the opportunity for capturing gorgeous photos of nature’s beauty—waiting for me to savor.

When we think of beauty, we frequently default to that which pleases the eye, tantalizes our sight. While I doubt I will ever cease to thrill with the vision of nature’s beauty, I began to long for more depth.

Asking God to enlarge not only my definition or concept of beauty, I asked that He expand my encounters with beauty. Creation’s beauty in all its forms speaks of and showcases our magnificent Creator God, and I wanted to encounter and know Him more intimately through it.

“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord”
Psalm 27:4 KJV

Each day, as I set out on my walk, wonder grew within my heart and my eyes began seeing all things in new ways. Where my attention sought beauty in the typical places of flora or vivid color of landscapes, my new sight grew captivated with the subtle beauty of a wild baby rabbit nibbling tender grass beneath a shaded bush. Or beholding a group of squirrels raiding a birdfeeder, I marveled at the diverse coloring of their coats as they shimmered shades of gray, brown, and auburn in the evening sun.

The sheer mystery of fragrances intoxicated me with their complex beauty. Every sense was drawn into the experience of beauty, as my understanding grappled with an expanded comprehension of the beauty all around me.

The sounds of cicadas, children’s laughter, soft music, and bird song sometimes brought tears to my eyes, as I simply received them in their purity.

One warm evening while resting on the cool grass under an oak tree, I glanced across the street and beheld a young woman standing outside her apartment holding her newborn baby. While the sight of a mother and her baby is not unusual, I was captivated by the way she held the baby. Instead of the typical cradling in the crook of the arm, she held the baby semi-cradled out in front of her, perpendicular to her body, as she gazed almost face to face with it.

Her stance, and the exquisite look of love mixed with wonder on her face held me mesmerized for several moments. The warmth of tears on my cheeks broke my reverie, but not before I realized the beauty depicted was God’s love for me, and I was undone.

Loathe to move on, I tore my eyes away, though still reflecting on the breath-taking purity of love in that surreal moment. I began to perceive God revealing Himself to me in each encounter as if reminding me of His beauty in His interactions with me.

“We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.”

C.S.Lewis

His tender love and awe as He beholds me and calls me His beloved, His glory revealed in the vibrant colors all around, His joy echoing in laughter and nature’s songs, His playfulness, creativity, patience, and goodness all on display through His creation.

Taking the exact route every evening, I found myself thinking perhaps I had seen all there was to see on this route, when I came across a Red Admiral butterfly on the sidewalk.

For a brief moment I noticed it before it flew away as I approached, and I walked on. But after a few nights, I realized this same butterfly was in the exact spot on the same sidewalk square in front of the same house every night.

After my realization, each night as we approached, I slowed down and waited. The butterfly no longer flew away but waited there with me. As I squatted down, we rested face to face for a time, and then it would fly away.

I found this remarkable given the excellent vision of butterflies; it saw me and my dog but chose to stay. What was even more amazing, was it rested there on the sidewalk, not on a flower or bush, why?

Equally puzzling is the fact that the timing of my walk varies anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour— yet every night it was there, beauty waiting for a month at the time of this writing.

Researching everything about butterfly behavior revealed little. Butterflies will return to a specific spot daily to eat or sleep, but this hardly applied to my butterfly’s penchant for a sidewalk square devoid of food and busy with foot traffic.

What was the meaning of the behavior?

Butterfly mythology offered the perspective that the butterfly was communicating “I was on the right path.” Another possible answer spoke to my experiencing an inner transformation of sorts, since butterflies are often associated with transformation.

While these suppositions may seem accurate, they feel trite. I rather wonder if this is perhaps God’s playful way of teaching a simple object lesson. Upon reflection, it was several days before I even noticed the butterfly, and then it was a passing nod. Yet day after day it waited, flying away quickly until I turned aside to take a closer look. (Sound familiar? Maybe akin to Moses turning aside to see the burning bush? Exodus 3:3)

What began as a primitive prayer to encounter God’s beauty in creation, transformed both my perception of God and the way I engaged with Him. Though my genuine desire was to encounter Him, distractions, racing thoughts, and sadly, selfish motives often took me in other directions.

Undaunted by my frailties, God waited for me, faithfully, patiently until His beauty captivated me enough for me to draw near in sweet communion. In the same way, God waits for you, too.

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