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Oct 01, 2023 06:00am

Chasing Shade

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I was feeling the stress of the winding down of summer and the pull of quickly approaching
chaos of the upcoming school year. My mind was swirling with all of my lists and deadlines
coming right at me like a freight train. I had been trying to have my quiet time, but I realized I
had read the same passage 5 times and still found myself just staring at my Bible.

I decided to go for a walk, listen to my praise and worship playlist, and ask God to help get my
heart and head focused while I enjoyed His creation. My headphones were dead, so I stuck my
phone in my pocket with the volume turned all of the way up. As I walked through the
neighborhood to get to the trail, I felt a small breeze, a beautiful gift in the 100 degree weather. I
walked through my neighbor’s yard to avoid the traffic of the busy street and enjoyed the feel of
the canopy of his “enchanted forest” that leads me to a less trafficked area and safer passage to
the walking trail. My neighbor generously gave my family permission to pass through any time
we wanted, and I definitely took him up on that offer this very hot day.

The “enchanted forest” holds no power or secret creatures. It’s not even a forest. It is a small
portion along the side of his yard with a weeping fir, large holly bushes, and moss that all
come together to make the path feel magical. Beautiful, tiny birds hopped through the path with
me. A rabbit scurried under a bush. Two squirrels chased each other up a tree. The smells of
the fir, the sounds of the animals moving around in their enchanted forest home, and the cool
break it provided from the scorching sun coordinated with the worship music coming from my
phone. I considered just sitting down in one spot and calling it mine for a few hours, but that isn’t
how the grown-up world works. I had asked my oldest son to watch out for his little brother while
I escaped, but I really couldn’t stay gone for hours.

I chose to exit my enchanted forest and enter the path brightly lit with Central Arkansas summer
sunshine. I found myself picking up my pace between shady breaks in the path, chasing the
sweet spots of shade. I was rushing through my walk, which was supposed to be my time to
reset my heart and mind. Now, I was treating this quiet time like another thing to check off my
to-do list.

My playlist sang out words from Will Raegan and United Pursuit encouraging me to not be “in a
hurry when it comes to His presence, to not rush out ahead in my own strength when He’s right
here.” I was reminded to “listen and rest in His nearness, to notice Him speaking.”

The verse I kept reading over without making it root itself into my heart earlier came to mind.
“Satisfy me in the morning with Your steadfast love that I may sing for joy and be glad all my
days.” Psalm 90:14

I became keenly aware that I was missing out when I just focused my attention on chasing the
shade, rather than enjoying the entire path. As I slowed down, I became aware of two birds
chasing each other between trees, speaking their own language. I imagined they were praising
God and declaring His glory, but maybe they were chirping about the sweaty human staring at
them. I saw a blue heron enjoying the cool creek running beside the trail.

As I slowed down, I could see that God was making Himself known in all of creation.
I was overwhelmed with the knowledge that I absolutely will not find any satisfaction on my own,
attempting to skip over the challenges and just enjoying the sweet comfort of the proverbial
shade. The shade was such a sweet comfort to me, because I had walked through the
uncomfortable spots along the path, as well. I knew that if all I chased in my day was “shade” I
would not have the true experience of the relief of that shade. My sweaty self took so much
more comfort from shade escapes once I had walked through the hot, sticky, uncomfortable
parts with my mind set on God and my heart carrying on conversation with the Creator of all the
beauty surrounding me that reminded me that I would not find satisfaction outside of the
presence of God.

Seeing God on display as I walked in the heat, I was reminded that God has so much to teach
me in the challenging parts of my life, and I would completely miss out if all I could focus on was
getting “out of the heat” and getting to an easy place again as quickly as possible. If I devoted
my time to just getting past the hard parts and didn’t take time to look around and see what God
was doing in the midst of it all, I would miss all of the beauty God had for me in the stretches of
the hot, sweaty, difficult parts-which, much like an Arkansas summer, makes up most of our lives.