A Sign

A Sign

Written by Dene Nidiffer.

Wednesday.

Just walked out of the condo.

Preoccupied with who knows what.

Not paying attention much to my surroundings… which, by the way, was a beautiful blue sky with huge, pristine white clouds.  The kind of clouds that you imagined you could lie on when you were a kid (I still do).  Ones that you could jump on like a trampoline only they would be much, much softer than you could even imagine, even hugging you when you land.  The air was crisp as the rain from the night before cooled everything off.   I love cool air in the summer.  It was so breezy, yet not windy.  Trees were everywhere.   Beautiful flowers, grasses.  Bees nestled into the flowers and so in love with the flavor of the nectar that they wouldn’t dare leave their resting place.  The smells were amazing…  so fresh, so fragrant!  Clean air!  Gorgeous…

STOP!

What was wrong with me?  Not paying attention to my surroundings?  Why? I was on vacation for goodness sake!  I was supposed to be resting and noticing nature.  God gifted ME with the ability to even take a vacation and He packaged it as one of the most beautiful scenes you can ever imagine.  But I wasn’t looking.

As I stopped to get gas in my car in one of the small towns, I saw this…

At that moment I couldn’t remember the name of this moth and I had never seen one with my own two eyes alive.  And at first, it left me feeling a little uneasy as it was so large and unlike anything that I had ever seen in person.  It had to be 4” wide and at least 6” long.  [I’m not a “bug” fan and I am sorry, but this is a HUGE bug!]  Why in the world would this be in the middle of the gas station, hanging out, when it had millions of trees and forestry areas nearby to land/live in?  Its presence took me by surprise and it was much like the old saying “it hit me like a ton of bricks”.  This Luna Moth, which typically flys only at night in spring and summer, was right there before my eyes in the middle of the day.  Strange…

 

Was God telling me to wake up and really see His gifts?  You bet He was!

 

I didn’t ask for this sign at all, but I sure needed it and was so glad He sent it!  It made me recognize what I was missing during vacation and more importantly what I undoubtedly am missing every day when I don’t pay attention to His creations.

Isaiah 7:11 The Message (MSG)

^10-11 God spoke again to Ahaz. This time he said, “Ask for a sign from your God. Ask anything. Be extravagant. Ask for the moon!”

Thank you God for a sign!  It changed my path last week and obviously impacted me today as I write.

What is a sign that you have recognized from God?  Or what are you missing that God is trying to tell you?

 

To read more about Dene, click here.