Enchanted

“The world is enchanted.

Lean closer to see it.”
—Aaron Niequist, “Enchanted”

I have been thinking a lot about imagination, and in particular finding extraordinary moments in the ordinary things of everyday life. I want to believe that just below the surface of things there is a glory, an enchanted beauty that sparks and flames if only I have eyes to see. Sometimes in the midst of routines, doing dishes, picking up laundry, and driving through the eternal mud of an Edmonton spring, I wonder about that. But if I can’t believe in that kind of everyday beauty, how can I believe in grace, in hope, in new life, in all the things that make my faith live?

So I decided to do a little experiment. To walk not more than 10 feet from my house and see if I could, by looking closer, find something glorious in the everyday sights of my front yard. And here are the results.

Tree with Berries

Muddy Road

Pine Tree

I think the world is enchanted. And if I lean closer to see it, I find God is everywhere. Even in the winter same-ness of my own front yard.

Saving Light

I know that daylight savings has to do with getting as many hours of light possible during our waking hours. Originally it had something to do with farmers, I think. Today I watch the sun just beginning to set at 7pm and it feels wrong. It shouldn’t be this late yet. My body clock has not clued in to the new number on the time clock.

There are times my Christian life is the same: though I know in my head and my heart what the “time” is supposed to be, it just feels wrong somehow. And I am at odds with God, debating, suspicious, fighting hard to act obediently in spite of it all.

But there are other times when things seem to click; when the words match the inner sense of wholeness, when the light comes and goes with the right kind of regularity, and when I am most able to see the rhythms and patterns of God’s kingdom around me. And for those times, while I seem to have less to write about (!), I also have a deep and settled sense of gratitude and a desire to save that light against the next time I am out of sync with the things of the Spirit.

For now, I close my eyes and soak in the sun. And I say “thank you” in as many ways as I can. “In him was life, and that life was the light of all people.” (John 1:4)