Haven on Earth

NATURE IS TOO THIN A SCREEN; THE GLORY OF THE OMNIPRESENT GOD BURTS THROUGH EVERYWHERE.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

To suggest that we go to people for renewal is like suggesting that we hop from one side of a searing pan to the other.  Very often it is from humans that we need relief!

When our burden is people, perhaps we need God's natural refreshment--solitude--in His haven on earth.

God

laces his thickets

with solace,

soaks his clouds

with cleansing,

arches his skies

with protection,

splashes his flowers

with cheer,

stirs his trees

with a second wind,

buoys his oceans

with assurance,

and heaps his mountains

with hope--

'tis his haven of love,

his hint of heaven.

Ought we--the weary, the worn, the disconsolate--ignore such generosity?

For the Lord is the great God,

the great King above all gods.

IN his hand are the depths of the earth,

and the mountain peaks belong to him.

The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us bow down in worship,

let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

for he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture,

the flock under his care (Psalm 95:3-7)

(devotion by Susan Lenzkes)