SIGNS OF GOD’S PRESENCE

by Pastor Karen Wight Hoogheem

During college, I liked to study alone in the library. A cubicle near a window offered a quiet place to read, write papers, and think. A collection of bushes and trees grew just outside the window. Many days, a small bird sat on a branch and stayed for a while. We spent a lot of time gazing at each other through the glass. This bird felt like the reassuring presence of God as I reflected on my experience as a college student and pondered the next steps into adulthood.

Later in life, when my schedule and responsibilities became more demanding, quiet prayer left me agitated and bored. I had way too much energy to be inside and alone with my thoughts, so I left the silence of my home and headed outside to run.

On neighborhood streets and in nearby parks, I encountered a community I never expected to find. I felt joyfully alive as I noticed trees that seemed to dance in the breeze. As rain drops fell and the wind slammed them against my skin, I felt the frustration and angst of grief. Ducks, otters, turtles, and leaping carp reassured me of life beyond my own experience. Like the bird on the branch outside the college library, nature once again helped me feel connected to a wider community that was brimming with God’s presence and the goodness of life.

In the book Earth: Our Original Monastery, Christine Valters Paintner writes, “This kind of intimacy with nature means that when our hearts feel heavy or conflicted, we might find ourselves walking a trail in the woods, along a river, or in a nearby park to experience a sense of kinship with creation. In these moments, the natural world often meets us as a guide and offers insight or