Lizard

The other day I had an encounter with a lizard. It wasn't anything special, but it did make me think.

I was out for a stroll around the church grounds, and as I turned a lizard froze on the curb in front of me. I took a step back and slowly sat back on my heels to watch. The lizard stayed quite still for a minute or so, and then did something totally unexpected. It actually started scooting toward me. It certainly kept an eye on me, but it seemed to accept my presence and attempted to move on with its existence.

Eventually, I had to move on with my day, but it made me think. Had I simply kept walking, my reptilian friend would have scampered away to find a place to hide. Yet, because I took a step back and let him continue in his own way, he actually approached me. Perhaps he was curious, or perhaps there was a scrumptious looking bug by my left foot. I don't know why, but he came closer to me.

This got me thinking about our relationship to God. So often we want God to come down and show himself and tell us what to do. But if God were to come in all his power and glory, we would be more sacred than lizards in the presence of humans. We would run and hide, trying not to wet ourselves in fear. But instead, God makes us aware of His presence, and then sits back and lets us approach Him. We all have our reasons for approaching (curiosity, scrumptious bugs, whatever floats your boat), but He leaves it in our power to decide. If He wanted to force Himself on us, we would have no ability to resist. But instead, He allows us to retain the small power of our free will.

What an amazing God we have!