During our most recent trip to the mountains of Virginia, we stayed at an Airbnb located in a remodeled boat house, right on the New River. Though there were other homes around, it was one of the most peaceful and quiet places we’d ever stayed at. Horace and I would sit outside each morning and evening, quietly enjoying one another’s company as we took in the scenic mountain views. When you’ve been married as long as we have, it’s not always necessary for words to be exchanged for there to be intimate friendship and connection.
One evening, a huge storm rolled in with quite the deluge. Horace was tired and went to sleep early, but I was still wide awake. Once the rain stopped, I decided to sit outside for a little while. I started talking to Jesus about my worries, regrets, sorrows, and prayed for each of our children and their families. With the weight of my failures heavy on my heart, I apologized to God for being so useless to Him. A great deal of time after that was spent just sitting in silence, as I had done with my own husband earlier that evening. As it so often happens for me during these conversations with the Father, the Holy Spirit began to speak His truth and engulf me with His heart-healing, lie-untangling, intimate presence. As my weary heart leaned in to receive His affection, the burdens and cares of this world began to melt away.
After a time of soaking in His presence, I heard God say, “Listen.” The only thing I heard was the louder-than-usual trills and croaking of hundreds of frogs and toads, busy celebrating the earlier rainstorm. “Listen,” I heard God say again. “Listen to my frog symphony. Isn’t it beautiful?” As I listened, I began to appreciate the beautiful orchestral arrangement – spontaneous, unique, harmonious worship, performed by these humble, lowly creatures to Creator God. Recalling my earlier apology for being a useless failure, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at this funny Holy Spirit encounter. God is so personal in how He loves on us, showing us big Kingdom concepts in simple ways that make sense to us.
I love this verse from 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, in the Message version:
“Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”
How beautiful it is to know that He does not choose us because of our goodness, qualifications, intelligence, or beauty. Instead, He loves us in our ugliness, chooses us in our brokenness, and cherishes the worship of our unqualified “voices” in His Grand Kingdom (Frog) Symphony.
