Always Watching, Always Present
I could hear the doe tip-toeing in the fallen leaves, dead branches, and autumnal detritus from several years past. I looked in the forest just off the trail I was on. Thick with oaks and maples, the doe was perfectly hidden, only her black eyes and nose pointing back at me.
There’s a pair of them, a brother and a sister - a doe and buck - who live near my trail, just a short distance from my house. The doe tends to live in one area of the trail while the buck in another opposing area, but their grounds overlap often.
When I see the doe grazing early in the morning, I say hello, and she hesitantly steps away, only to glide across the path behind me as soon as I’m safely away. When the buck grazes, he barely gives a glance, his young antlers covered over with fuzz, growing a little more every time I see him. He’s a little more reckless.
But I like their differences. I like that I’m made aware of the buck’s presence and completely unaware of the doe’s.
Even if I don’t see them, both of them are near me on the trails, in and out of view, cautiously watching me but watching me nonetheless. It’s a slight comfort knowing they’re around, and it reminds me often of our heavenly father. He’s never far, just a word away, watching us with every step we take. It’s up to me to stay aware of Him or forget.
As C.S. Lewis once said, “To some, God is discoverable everywhere; to others, nowhere.” I can choose to ignore acknowledging his presence or instead act as if he’s everywhere, in everything I do, even if I can’t feel Him.
Every day, I choose to accept that God is in everything that happens to me and everything I am a part of. I choose to believe He’s aware of my circumstances constantly. And when I do, I can carry on with the confidence that he is watching me, even if I can’t see Him, with loving eyes and a compassionate heart.
“... And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, NIV).
Finch Food for Thought: Do you choose to believe God is always with you