Honeysuckle

I wanted to share a conversation I had with the Lord the other day.  I know my conversations with God may seem a bit odd to some of you, but hang in there with me.  You may just enjoy my story anyway. :)

I was walking around Landen Lake the other day.  I love a good walk alone.  It's a great time for me to pray or talk to God.  It's a great time for me to pour our my heart to God and to listen to what He has to say to me.  Recently I have been toying with the idea of running.  I am not totally sure why I am toying with this idea, but I am.  So, on some of my walks, I have started running some short distances. I can't say I like it but I am trying to press in and try it anyway...sometimes ;) So, I round a corner the other day, just coming off one of my SHORT running stints and I notice this part of the path.  It's a short part that winds around a few houses before turning back in front of the lake.  It's pretty wooded, pretty isolated and the path is windy here...in places you cannot see the path ahead.  But lining this part of the path are honeysuckle bushes.  The honeysuckle bushes have been there all along but this was the first day I noticed them.  They were in bloom, small whitish yellow flowers everywhere.  And then it hit me, the smell.  That strong, sweet, distinctive honeysuckle smell.

I had to stop for a moment to take it in.  You see, I was panting like a dog on a hot humid day.  My heart was beating so hard and loud it was all I could hear.  And my shins, well they were screaming in pain.  Remember, I had just been RUNNING. Pathetic, I know, but God used it to speak to me. Like a rush it hit me.  This impression of my current situation.  I'm on a path. At times it feels isolating and I can't see ahead of me...no idea where I am going or what will come next.  And personally, well, I am in pain...major pain.  But there, along my path, are all these honeysuckle bushes.  Fragrant and beautiful.  God wants to remind me that He is there with me, no matter what my path.  And on those hard, lonely paths...He has something for us.  He has something beautiful.  But we have to look for it.  We have have to stop focusing on our screaming muscles or lack of breath and look around.  We have to look for what He has for us. 

And that day, it was so clear to me.  So clear that the Lord is calling me to look around.  To know that despite the pain, despite the continued unknown, despite the loneliness...He has something for me on this path.  Something fragrant, beautiful and strong.  And right now, He is reminding me of it with the honeysuckle.  Just today I was feeling a bit tired, a bit overwhelmed and frankly a bit sad. I got out of my car on ANOTHER gloomy, rainy and overcast day in Cincinnati.  And it hit me, the smell of honeysuckle.  And there I heard it again...your circumstances may seem gloomy but I have something beautiful for you.  I know it may seem strange or even wacky to some of you, this type of conversations I have with the Lord. But to me, they are treasures.  I sense His presence, His care and love for me, His comfort and even His delight.  I am overwhelmed by His care for me that He would choose to speak to me in such powerful and personal ways.

So, there was the fragrant honeysuckle. And then I walk in the house to find a care package from friends. Not just any friends, but special long time friends.  Friends I rarely see and even rarely communicate with these days.  But these special friends took the time to put together a thoughtful and creative care package for my family in this season.  They were expressing their care and concern for us and I am grateful. And grateful to the Lord for grabbing my attention, for reminding me to look for the honeysuckle...and there it was.  One of the beautiful things of this season has been the way God has used so many friends and family to come alongside and support and care for us.  It has been strong and sweet...just like honeysuckle.

And so today, I am exceeding grateful to the Lord for His love and care for us.  For His personal nature and the way He speaks to me.  For the way He uses others to comfort and support us. And for the honeysuckle.  In the midst of pain, it is still sweet.