It had rained overnight, yet again. As I sat on the porch, the morning light stretched beneath branches and dappled the ground. The sky grew more blue by the minute.
Then the downpour started — large drops; heavy rain. It only lasted about 10 seconds, but even more remarkable than the short duration was its limited scope: the “storm” only fell in a circle on the driveway about 8 feet in diameter.
Or did it? Perhaps it was raining everywhere, and my morning-bleary eyes only saw rain falling there because of a hole in the tree canopy — perhaps they simply were not yet focusing well enough to see it falling further away where tree branches did not reach. But the sun still shined. And the sky grew blue.
About two minutes later, another micro-downpour, in another place. Then another, not too far away. Then another. And my too-slow morning-mind began to realize what you probably already see: an unseen creature was high above, moving through a saturated canopy — and unwittingly confusing a much more “intelligent” creature far below.
More coffee, please?
We can often be slow in life to connect the dots between effect and cause, and even slower to understand the trickle down effects of our lives on others. Frequently that is because of a disconnect between us, though it is often also because this world and our lives keep us so weary and worn out that it is hard to be sure of what we are seeing in the first place.
We need each other. We need each other’s vision. We need each other’s strength. We need the help of those who are “caffeinated” when we are not, and we need to help others when we are so and they are not — if you allow me to stretch the metaphor.
There is a whole interdependent ecosystem involved in this. That is by design — God’s design. It is both the way we were made and how we are to understand that God intends us to operate.
We are individuals, yes; but we are Community.
Remember, we’re all in this together,
Pastor Michael