Last week, I visited Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana for the first time. As I stood in the allée of 300-year-old oak trees that line the path to the front of the plantation, I stopped at one particular tree and marveled at its size and glory. My sister stood with her arms wide open and couldn’t even come close to spanning the trunk. Often in nature, when I witness something of God’s majesty, I stand in awe and feel small and wonder at my significance in the grand scheme of things. This time, however, though I was in awe, I did not feel small. I felt instead, connected to God and the larger universe.
I stood in the pathway and looked at the wonder of the trees and then back to the house, back and forth. Yes, the house was amazing, but I was more drawn and delighted by the trees.
It was ironic to me, as I was touring the plantation itself, how the tour guide described to us the various ways that the plantation owners had of showing off their great wealth. Just one example is the way they purposefully created their curtains to puddle on the ground as a sign that they were wealthy enough to afford all the extra luxurious fabric. This seemed slight in contrast to the extravagant beauty of the trees growing just outside the front door.
I wonder if the early owners’ connection to these great displays of wealth gave them satisfaction or wound up leaving them feeling small and insignificant, deep down inside. The man who built Oak Alley had a wife who wildly spent her children’s inheritance and chose to live in the city with the kids rather than at that the plantation with him, much to his distress.
Perhaps when we feel small and insignificant, it’s because we’ve forgotten WHO we are connected to and the tremendous resources and power of His unconditional love for us. I don’t think God ever wants us to feel small or insignificant, do you?
You are not a reservoir with a limited amount of resources; You are a channel attached to unlimited divine resources.
~ Author Unknown
I stood in the pathway and looked at the wonder of the trees and then back to the house, back and forth. Yes, the house was amazing, but I was more drawn and delighted by the trees.
It was ironic to me, as I was touring the plantation itself, how the tour guide described to us the various ways that the plantation owners had of showing off their great wealth. Just one example is the way they purposefully created their curtains to puddle on the ground as a sign that they were wealthy enough to afford all the extra luxurious fabric. This seemed slight in contrast to the extravagant beauty of the trees growing just outside the front door.
I wonder if the early owners’ connection to these great displays of wealth gave them satisfaction or wound up leaving them feeling small and insignificant, deep down inside. The man who built Oak Alley had a wife who wildly spent her children’s inheritance and chose to live in the city with the kids rather than at that the plantation with him, much to his distress.
Perhaps when we feel small and insignificant, it’s because we’ve forgotten WHO we are connected to and the tremendous resources and power of His unconditional love for us. I don’t think God ever wants us to feel small or insignificant, do you?
You are not a reservoir with a limited amount of resources; You are a channel attached to unlimited divine resources.
~ Author Unknown
2 comments:
mj, you never cease to amaze me! We were down in Yosemite last wkd and I resonate with your sense of awe at what God has wrought. It is easy to feel small and insignifcant in a place like Yosemite. Yet when you stop looking up at the granite monoliths and huge waterfalls and the mammoth Sequoia trees, you see the small, vulnerable seedlings under the trees - God's commitment to keep on creating and seeking our commitment to preserve, as best we can, all, both big and small, that he has entrusted to us.
One of these days, I hope to make it to Yosemite. I still can't believe I used to live in Calif. and never made it there! I like what you wrote about God's commitment to keep on creating, it's worth reminding ourselves.
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