Then the angel who talked with me answered me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”
Zechariah, a man after my own heart. He has multiple visions involving myrtle trees, horns, blacksmiths, a measuring line, Satan, olive trees, a seven faceted stone, and a golden pipe. After each vision, the angel asks him what he sees, and he describes it in terms I’d use – an olive tree, a measuring line – tangible things. “Do you not know what these are? No, my lord”. That would be me. And honestly, after each description, I’m not sure that I understood what the symbols are. I wonder if Zechariah did, or if he just thought, “holy, holy holy. God is a wonderful mystery.”
Like Zechariah’s question, I wonder sometimes what things in my life are. What are these trials, or coincidences, or changes in my life? If someone asked, I’d likely admit that no, I don’t know or understand, but that God is a wonderful mystery. I think often of the story of the blindfolded people who each grasp a different part of the elephant. One thinks it’s a rope, another a wall, another a tree. Each only understand a small part, based on what they can touch and sense. I think I go through life like that, blindfolded, or at least only able to grasp what’s immediately in front of me. I often think I have the whole picture, but I’m sure I’m just grasping the tail, trying to convince everyone that it’s a rope. Only God can see the whole thing. Only God knows what things mean, or why things happen in the order or timing that they do. Only God can see the elephant.
The accompanying reflection is from Brennan Manning, and focuses on a blind, and uncompromising trust in God. He offers a prayer that I’d like to memorize.
“Abba, into your hands I entrust my body, mind, and spirit and this entire day—morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Whatever you want of me, I want of me, falling into you and trusting in you in the midst of my life. Into your heart I entrust my heart, feeble, distracted, insecure, uncertain. Abba, unto you I abandon myself in Jesus our Lord. Amen.”
I don’t understand the visions Zechariah was shown. I don’t always understand what’s happening in my world. This morning, I’m thinking about entrusting my body, mind and spirit for this entire day into God’s hands.
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