Evening Thoughts

July 24 The Lord gave me a good encouragement this evening. When I came into the kitchen, I heard Grampie saying, evidently in reply to something Grammy had said, “Home? This is our home, though not our eternal home.” I said, “That’s right, and our eternal home is so much better!”
“Perfect!” Grampie said.
“And we all can’t wait to get there.” “
But I guess that’s one thing we have to do—wait,” Grampie replied.
“It’ll be worth the wait, though, and all the better for it!”

“Lord Jesus, come! Thy Bride her Lord would see,
And know the joy of being like to Thee;
So worlds on worlds will see what grace has done,
As long as everlasting ages run.”
~Samuel Trevor Francis

After supper, I was itching to get out in the fields. So once I got Grammy started on dishes, I headed out. I walked out past the shop, where the guys were working, up through the barnyard, under the fence, and up the rocky path to my favorite high pasture.

I climbed fast, eager to get up to my special thinking place on the rock wall. I went by the cows, chewing on the lush grass, and one of them reached out her nose to touch my outstretched hand. Her nose was warm and slick.

I ducked under the fence, and walked through the buttercups, clover, and dandelions, beaded with rain. As I dropped into the little valley cradled like the palm of a hand, there was that magical feeling of being all alone, on the top of a mountain somewhere.

Grey blue hills met blue green grass on two sides of the horizon, while on the others, trees stood against the sky. I soon reached my special rock. It was a wonderful half hour. The wind was blowing strongly and steadily, pushing away the clouds. I sat facing into the wind, letting it push back my hair, flap my shirt sleeves, and blow into my mouth. The wind seems like such a cleansing thing, like standing in a strong current and feeling it swoosh past.

It was so good to be alone with the Lord, to pour out all that was in my heart and on my mind, to face the vague things which bothered me throughout the day, to lift up my eyes to the sky and think of the Lord of glory who was just on the other side. To smile up at Him and be beyond the view or hearing of any human person. Indeed, the wind drowned out many other noises, so that I seemed even more alone than some other times.

Far away, so small that I could hardly see them, were two birds, leaping on the currents of wind, tossing up and down and around. I told the Lord I want to be like them, resting on the wind of His will, whatever direction it might take, exulting in joy and freedom. Farther away than the birds, were the very distant hills, each ridge a shade fainter than the one before it, stretching until the last ridge I could see was only a very distant, rust colored outline, in the clouds and humidity, illumined by the setting sun. Some of the hills nearest to me were still in shadow, while the shoulders of the hills beyond were illumined by sunshine.

I could not even see the sun from where I stood, because of the clouds, but while I stood there (for I stood up in the wind to see the hills), the clouds began to be swept away and leave clear sky, so that while the evening grew older, it did not become darker, for the sun was unveiled more and more.

Eventually, I got down from the wall, and headed back to the farm. I met the cows again, munching away. Some of them stopped and stared at me, others lifted their heads and kept on chewing while tossing a careless glance in my direction; others ignored me altogether, but chewed away. They were in the ravine pasture, and very picturesque, scattered over the steep shoulders of the two adjoining hills. I came back, feeling as though I had left some troubles behind me, back to the world of everyday life.