The Broom Bush

Thanksgiving seems to be the favorite holiday among many of my friends and family. We gather to be together, to eat good food, and watch a little football. Since there are minimal decorations and no gifts it’s fairly easy for everyone, except the cooks. :)

A tradition around many Thanksgiving tables is to go in turn and express what we are especially thankful for. Usually we mention family, friends, food, our health, etc. Then we dig into the sumptuous feasts that are laid before us.

But I’m wondering if we can reframe of our “thankfulness” this year? Maybe I can explain what I’m thinking with a story.

I Kings 19

Elijah was a prophet of God to Israel. He had defeated the prophets of Baal in a dramatic showdown on a mountaintop. Ahab, the king and Jezebel, the queen, were furious since they worshipped Baal. So they vowed that Elijah would be dead by the next day. Elijah, filled with terror, ran for his life. After an exhausting day-long trek he found himself stranded in a foreboding inhospitable desert. Hungry, alone, and frightened he collapsed under the only bit of shelter he could find. It was a scraggly little Broom tree.

I looked up a picture of a broom tree. It is just a shrub, and it is poisonous to humans. So there he was with only one puny, solitary, poisonous Broom bush to give him shade and rest. His circumstances could not have been more dire. Resting under that shrub Elijah cried out to God saying he’d had enough. He told God he simply could not take anymore. So, he pleaded with God to take his life. Then he fell to sleep.

What follows is one of the most tender gentle passages in the Bible. He awoke to the touch of an angel. After looking around he noticed the angel was baking a loaf of bread over hot coals, and she had placed a jar of water at his head. Elijah sat up, nibbled at the food, sipped the water, and then fell back to sleep. But, the angel came again and touched him a second time. She told him “This journey is too much for you….so eat.” After he sat up and ate his fill he was strengthened and able to journey through the desert for 40 more days.

I love this story. I love that the angel met him when he was completely depleted of strength or ideas of how to save himself. I love that she did not shake him or scold him. I love that the angel wanted him to eat until he was totally full. I love that she just tenderly touched him.

Her actions showed that she knew his despair and that the journey was really hard. He could never make it on his own. AND, she gave him what he needed. She gave it with great love and tenderness.

A number of things impress me as I contemplate this story.

First I am reminded that no matter our age or station in life the journey is very difficult.

Second, we are all seen and tenderly loved as we travel.

Third, what we need is tenderly given to us by God’s gentle hand of love. It may not always be what we think we need, but what we truly need is given.

A beautiful sky is not just a sky. A tree is not just a tree. A rose is not just a flower. A kind word from a neighbor or friend is not just a word. A dog’s lick is not just a slobbery kiss. A child’s laugh is not just a laugh. These are not static gifts or objects. Rather, they are “provisions” actively being given to sustain us on the very difficult journey of life.

Debie Thomas writes in her book, A Faith of Many Rooms, “In the Gospels Jesus compares himself to manna. I believe Jesus desires to sustain us in our journeying. He desires to be our comfort, our joy, our nourishment, our delight, our substance, and our strength…..because the one who had no place to lay his head knows better than anyone that the journey is hard. He spent forty days in the lostness of the wilderness and knows we cannot handle the shadowy landscape on our own.”

So every single day he gives. He gives lavishly. Our daily paths are literally strewn with the “gold” of His giving.

As I sit here writing the day outside is a bit cold, dreary, and wet. But if I linger a moment, I see a world alive with the gifts I am being given. I see the last leaves of fall moving to the rhythm of little drops of falling rain. I see two bright yellow finches feasting at my feeder. I see bare branches studded with tiny diamond raindrops, and watch them falling softly onto the receiving ground. I’m reminded of God’s grace, like the rain, falling on us all. I’m reminded that the little finch is being cared for, and if God can care so tenderly for a bird how much more he cares for me. I’m reminded that a God who can create stunning beauty out of a dreary day is creating beauty no matter how dreary my life may sometimes feel.

These are gifts. They are gifts from SOMEONE who is always giving. They are given by One who tenderly touches me, and lavishes me with too many gifts to count.

The hot coffee, the toast, the dog’s adoring face, the laughter of a child, my eyes that can see, the bird song from almost every tree, the last clinging rose of summer, the fire in the fireplace….all of these are bread and water being given to me this morning on my journey through the perilous journey of life. Our paths are literally strewn every day with gifts that evidence God’s loving presence.

Oh God, may we be awake and may our eyes be open to see the precious gifts all around us. May we treat them, not as objects, but as manifestations of your tender loving care for each of us. May we understand that no matter what our circumstances might be this year, you see us, you are tenderly touching us, and you are filling our world with the enchantments of your generous giving. May we remember to sit up and eat for the journey is truly too much for us.