God’s glory at home

“Shout for joy, all the earth;

    sing the glory of his name;

    give to him glorious praise!”

Those words are the first verses of Psalm 66.  Today, with the weather forecast strongly suggesting that today was the last summer-like day of the year, reading those words reminds me of the particular beauty we have seen in this place that has been our home the past six months.

We are in a house that is 120 years old in some parts.  It sits on nearly 6 acres of land, adjacent to a freeway.  There is one standing barn, one collapsed barn, a building for Robin’s glass shop, a garage and several sheds.  We are renting, and between our stuff and our landlord’s stuff, the cars have to park outdoors. 

There is a U-shaped driveway lined with a variety of crab apple trees, trees that bloomed wonderfully shortly after we moved in.  There are a lot of other trees.  One is a tree the kids have frequently climbed in and there are two more that we hung swings in.  Others drop sticks, large and small, whenever the weather turns sour. 

All year we have seen large numbers of rabbits and squirrels.  There is a woodchuck, and also several raccoons.  An adult cat has frequently passed through.  She must have been pregnant, because one month ago our daughter found a baby kitten that we have taken in.  Two of the kitten’s siblings were briefly seen last week.  They were pretty skittish and we don’t need another inside cat.  We’ve seen mice near the house and the outside kittens seemed to be getting along okay.  As the fruit on the crabapple trees has matured, and fell, deer have been much more frequent in the front yard. 

Yesterday Robin saw, and blogged, about the amazing presence of God as she was outside before sunrise for the first time since July. 

And all of this is just outside our door, next to a freeway, well within the city limits.

When we sold our house and moved to our present location it was to be a temporary stop for us, and it still is.  We expected things to be different from our home of 19 years, and they certainly have been.  In six months we have acquired a lot of stories.  We have coped with, and adapted to, many things that we never could have imagined.

One thing we didn’t expect was the sheer diversity of nature in this one small place.  Diversity that, with rare exceptions, has been delightful.  And as summer gives way to fall it is right for us to join the psalmist and praise God, who once again has surrounded us with His presence.  An earthly glimpse of beauty that points us to His eternal Glory.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.