Beginnings

I drove right past this yesterday when I arrived at church to meet with Pastor Debbie and Father Dave and missed it completely.  Pastor Debbie asked me if I had seen it and even as she described it, I had no idea what or where she was talking about.

This area was overgrown when I first started attending Hope more than three years ago.  There was no bench.  There was definitely no angel and even the trees were hidden by brush.

But now it's something.

Now it says this place is holy.

Behind it, a path is beginning to emerge.

So not only does this angel mark the site as holy, it marks the path.  It says that three years ago there was nothing here but prickly palm fronds and snakes and ticks and weeds to choke your ankles.

But now it has all been reclaimed, not by the woods, but by the people, by God.

This is how God works in all our lives, by reclaiming the parts that are weed-choked and dark and filled with danger and turning them into something that the sun reaches, something inviting and breathtaking and wonderful.