Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
It was early morning in Moab, Utah. Before heading to the National Parks to behold the wonder of God’s creation I took a two-mile stroll into town to a particular donut shop that had caught my eye the previous day. I passed a large field that sat beneath one of the spectacular mesas towering over the city. The mesas bear witness to violent earthquakes of the distant past and the slow erosion of millions of years. In the field two lone horses were peacefully enjoying the first light of morning.
Two donuts later I retraced my steps knowing that my fellow hikers would have poles, hats, boots and sunscreen ready to go. But I was stopped short by a sight that was at first peculiar to a city boy, and then instructive to a mere human on the pathway of life.
The two horses snorted on occasion and shook their heads as I was making my way out of town. It seems that the flies were waking up, and their presence was an unpleasant nuisance flitting about the eyes and mouths of my four-legged friends. They each had a natural fly swatter on their backsides, but no hands to protect their heads. They moved together, side by side, head to hind end. Then they gently swished their tails over the face of their friend. I watched for some time as this partnership in fly avoidance elegantly played out before me. So long in fact, that I considered walking back for another donut.
The moment in time stuck in my mind as I traversed the Arches and later sat silently under a nighttime sky illuminated by hundreds of billions of stars and the Milky Way so clear. Knowing that many of the stars that I see no longer exist, I am reminded how small I am, how fleeting my existence. Frail flesh, one fleck of plaque away from extinction, I am less than a footnote in human history and in the story of creation I would merit no mention. But in the brevity of my days, I have a tail. Well, I don’t have a tail, but I can stand side by side with you and you with me. We can cozy up to each other and swat the flies of despair away for a moment. We can comfort each other in times of sorrow and toast the days and the blessings of life and friendship. The arches will fall, and new arches will appear, and I will slip silently back into the cosmos returning to the one who gave me the gift of hiking through life and brushing my tail over my companions on the journey.
One beggar, telling another beggar where to find bread, I am your,
Pastor Jim
