Quiet night reminds us of God’s presence

of a light breeze. Darkness and quiet.

Then, I caught a glimpse of something from my childhood, the flash of a lightning bug (firefly, if you prefer). Then another winked its response. It is difficult to determine how many there were, because they would not hold still for a count. I guess that perhaps eight to 10 or so preformed for me.

What were they communicating? perhaps some were looking for dates, while others were just saying “Hi” to each other. Whatever their messages, they were doing their lightning bug jobs.

schedules and deadlines of life’s hard realities.

But for a sleepless moment filled with concerns about this and questions about that, I found calm in the peaceful darkness of God’s creation and return of lightning bugs, the little harbingers of hope in the darkness of our own making.

God may speak to us in big ways or in small ways. But God speaks to us always. The hills reminded the psalmist of the Almighty’s permanent and reliable presence. I saw something of the same thing in some lowly lightning bugs.