But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:6-18
I have precious memories of sitting at my grandmother’s feet as a little girl and listening to her stories. Some of her recollections were of wartime and family survival. I was too small to understand, but I sat basking in her presence, transfixed by the beauty and complexity of our encounter.
History is not always a speedy highway, but often a slow hike up a country road; like the tedious struggle of an individual heart to convert and find God’s spirit resting on one’s shoulders. Sometimes we just need a bit of open space.
I recently found myself reviewing the Historic Chevy Chase collection of oral histories. Of the few I read, one was Miss Ella Given’s mesmerizing depiction of Chevy Chase circle. In the old days cows grazed on the circle(!) Ella mentions an array of wildflowers: “bloodroots almost as large as water lilies...” and in the nearby fields, carpets of “birdfoot violets; spring beauties and anemones.”
A written memoir by Edith Claude Jarvis and C. Carroll Morgan echoes the beauty of this "most charming and picturesque” landscape. Moreover, they recount the story that George Washington traveled frequently to these country roads, quenching his thirst at the fresh bubbling spring on the site of "Clean Drinking Manor." Later, President Madison visited the area "from the White House, which the British so rudely burned in 1814!"
President Teddy Roosevelt and his family often took strolls on the wide roads of Chevy Chase in the early 1900s, right around the time that All Saints Church was built. Roosevelt, like his brother Franklin after him, was often known to attend Episcopal services in Washington. Perhaps they popped into All Saints sometime?
But remember, back then Chevy Chase was a bit like a county retreat, a place to leave the city behind. To expand one's vision with the expanse of land and space – putting petty problems and concerns into perspective.
Imagine if we could always live with that expanded view. More like God's view. Where truth and understanding are just within reach. May the Lord’s Spirit rest on you and lead you down that road.
God bless you!
Edyta
References
A Brief History of Chevy Chase, Memoir by Edith Claude Jarvis, and C. Carroll Morgan, Dated: 1975; Chevy Chase Historical Society
Library of Congress Photo Archives: Roosevelt and his family:
