March 24, 2023
“Now we see only a dim likeness of things. It is as if we were seeing them in a foggy mirror. But someday we will see clearly. We will see face to face.” ~ 1 Corinthians 13:12 NIRV adapted.
I spent the better part of the week at St. Francis Springs Prayer Center in Stoneville, NC co-leading a retreat titled: Sacred Seeing: A Contemplative Retreat. I’ve walked one of the trails that winds around the back of the property, up-and-down-hill, past the gurgling stream multiple times during each of the four times I’ve been on retreats there. The sound of the stream evokes delightful memories of time spent along just such a stream near my childhood home.
I walked it again both Monday and Tuesday, and it wasn’t until Tuesday that I noticed a sign near the large tree that grows right next to the stream. The words were from Psalm 1:3, “They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.” NRVS. I have no idea how long the sign has been there, but this time I saw it. And this time I saw something else as well. The roots of this tree have grown into the stream to extent that it almost touches the opposite bank.
So old, so deeply rooted, so remarkable that a sign has been devoted to it. And I never noticed until I looked, really looked at it and saw it in a new and different way. It was a tiny little bit of sacred seeing, of gazing a part of God’s good creation and seeing it more clearly than ever before.
Jesus asked blind Bartimaeus, “What do you want?” Bartimaeus responded, “I want to see.” So do I, clearly, face to face.
What do you want? ~ Anne
Tree Root Growing Across the Stream
Wayfinding 