This week's Encouragement was submitted by: Caroline McColloch



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​For The Beauty of the Earth
Here is the scene that greeted me over morning coffee. Who could not be touched and inspired? A gentle, sweet smelling rain illuminated by the sunrise, over a vibrant garden, meadow, and woodland! I became very still in mind and body, letting my senses drink it all in. It felt like a holy, albeit fleeting moment. Then my cat Milo knocked over the coffee cup.
In the hustle of daily life, of “being in the world”, how hard it is sometimes to “not be of the world”! As Christians, we live in two worlds simultaneously: the one of endless distractions, deadlines, projects and responsibilities, (or some other daily grind) and the one of the still small voice, of fleeting beauty, of acts of kindness, of the mystical and numinous. I often feel sympathy for those who deny the other world, the bigger reality. What is there to lean on when human limitations inevitably descend upon us?
One way to keep a foot in that other world is to practice noticing little things: nature is full of them. This is perhaps easier for me, living on a farm, but being outside in a park, or on a hiking trail, or just sitting on the porch or in the backyard provide ample opportunities for the observant mind. God is always trying to get our attention!