Lessons Learned in Landscape Observation

One day last week, I was looking out the windows on the east side of the North Campus church. I was there the day after the lawn had been cut, and I was fascinated by what I saw in the grass outside of one of the windows (the window that is almost parallel to the ambo where the Scripture reading is proclaimed each Sunday.)

The lawn really looked nice. In one spot, where the riding mower turned, you could see an image in the lawn…it was the 3-foot-by-3-foot shape of a heart. The heart had its bottom point facing toward ambo and Altar. I never saw such a figure left by a lawnmower before!

I smiled thinking that even the lawn wants to give glory to God, to Jesus, our source of love, and to our Comforter in a world that seems to go awry more often than not. A world that can cause one’s anxiety to spike just thinking about everything.

In the book, In Sinu Jesu, a monk wrote about his meditations, as Jesus spoke to him in the silence of his heart. Jesus asked the monk to create a book on these meditations so others could also learn what the monk heard Jesus say in prayer. In one such meditation, Jesus spoke to the monk about praying often the phrase, “O Jesus, King of Love, I put my trust in Thy merciful goodness.”

I used to pray that prayer often in my life, but not so much lately. I think the image left in the grass was a reminder to me about what the monk said about the prayer. He shared when nothing is clear, when nothing is foreseeable, to repeat the prayer as often as necessary until you find peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I need to do that. I am grateful for what nature reminds us about God’s love. 

By: Deacon Tom Gryzbek