Brothers and sisters,
In some ways, I feel like I write some version of this same article at least once a year. Regardless, I’m going to write it again. Two weekends ago, I rode down to Goldsboro to see my dad and my brother. Dad and I had bought tickets to one of the last home games for the Down East Wood Ducks, the minor league baseball team in nearby Kinston, for Friday night.
Because the weather was so nice, Dad and I decided to take his convertible, put the top down, and drive to Kinston using backroads, meaning we drove by lots and lots of fields. Now, they may not seem like much to look at—after all, a field is just flat ground—but to someone born and raised in Eastern NC, the fields were beautiful. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but deep greens and vibrant yellows. The trees lining the backroads to Kinston frame everything so perfectly that you get these picturesque scenes of fields and farmhouses and barns and sky. It’s wonderful!
I say all that not just to convince you to go for a drive sometime when it’s pretty out, but just to remind you that there is such beauty in God’s creation that is all around us. This is the time of year to go eat supper on the porch. It’s the time to pack a picnic and have lunch in Duke Gardens. One of my favorites—and it will only get better as the leaves turn—is UNC’s campus, particularly the Arboretum and the quad between Franklin Street and the Old Well.
Days like these are reminders, to me at least, of the special care that God took in making the earth. It is a place that can provide us with such tender beauty. It is a place where we can feel at peace, knowing that we belong here. God’s creation can speak to us in ways that can be familiar, but can also stir something deep within our souls. The fields of Eastern NC are not just pretty; they connect me to a place that feels like home, to a God that deeply loves me and all of Creation.
So, again, I feel like I write this article a lot, but go have supper on the porch tonight or go for a walk around the neighborhood and breathe in God’s love and creativity.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben