Sunday, November 30, 2020
…….the kingdom of God is in your midst. Luke 17:21
God appears to us in unexpected ways during unsettling times. Even though I’ve enjoyed my solo walks, I’ve also enjoyed the accidental encounters that would never have happened if I hadn’t been solo-journeying on foot.
One day on a quiet residential street, I heard someone call out “Hello.” I looked up and saw a young Black man—early 20’s, I’d guess—approaching on the opposite side of the street. I called Hello back, and he gestured excitedly to a yard I was passing. “Look,” he shouted, “there are two rabbits on that lawn—a mother and her baby bunny rabbit.” I had never heard any man, Black or White, young or old, refer to a baby rabbit as a baby bunny rabbit, and it immediately endeared him to me. As we stood watching them, an older man opened the front door of his house and called out: “They love my lawn because of all the flowers.”
Suddenly I noticed that all of us—the young man, the old man, the rabbits, and I were all 6 feet apart from one another. The only ones not social-distancing were mama and baby bunny. It was a perfect, serendipitous moment and an opportunity to observe God’s creatures up close and personal.
Another encounter occurred when I cut through the parking lot of First Christian Church in Decatur to get to one of my favorite walking neighborhoods. I came upon the pastor unloading books from his Little Free Library. He told me he was turning it into a Little Free Pantry for the hungry. I watched as he filled it with peanut butter crackers, granola bars, containers of soup, and bottled water.
Through the weeks, I’ve seen it emptied and filled again many times. The pastor added a sign: “Those in need, please take. Those in abundance, please give.” What a simple, but powerful lesson during a pandemic. It’s comforting to see God at work and to know that there are good people around us.
Lord, thank you for reminding us of your presence by appearing to us at unexpected times and places.
Mary Mahoney
