I've been on a couple of hikes over the past week. Hiking a trail . . . it's another road to follow. I've been very intentional about looking at the surroundings as I walk along the path instead of being consumed with getting to the end of the trail. Over the years, most of my trails ended at a fishing destination. I'm trying to develop a taste for the experience of the trail itself.
The surroundings of nature . . . oh my. Open wide. Take it in!
No matter what your personal view might be as to beginnings, creation, evolution, the big bang, whatever . . . you must admit it's absolutely amazing, nature that this. All that surrounds us not made by human hands and ingenuity is absolutely breathtaking. I'm talking about dirt and rocks, bushes and trees, lichens and mosses, squirrels and coyotes (I saw one), trout and mayflies, mole hills and mountains . . . and how they all blend seamlessly together.
This week I felt more connected to it. If I'm but dirt, then I should naturally feel like I'm part of it, laced together with it . . . with the earth. I'm part of the "Weave."
Woven together . . . implies a weaver. If you know me at all, then you won't be surprised that I'm reminded of some statements written in the Bible:
"All things came into being through Him [Christ], and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." (John 1:3)
"And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:17)
Consist = made up of something
You and I are certainly not just "made up" as in make believe. No, we are very real, made up of something. That something is what holds us together. Contemporary astrophysicists attempt to define and describe this "something," as well as ancient (and modern) philosophers down through the centuries. It holds us together as part of the natural world . . . with dirt and rocks, squirrels and coyotes. But I believe it holds us together in those times when everything around us seems to be falling apart.
In that something we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). And even for the most ardent skeptic, agnostic, and atheist out there reading my blog, you must admit there's a sense of awe and wonder that envelopes you when you dare open wide and take it in. It stirs "something," it touches a chord, a thread woven into your innermost being.
You're "made up," part of the material, the substance . . . the matter. And your matter matters. You're part of the Weave, no matter how you explain it. And that's Something to celebrate, no matter who you are.