december evening, annunciation

my plan was a 

a ten minute

walk

out the back door

down the driveway

and up the gravel road

just for a fresh breath

of air

but within

a minute of setting out

the revelation began

(cries of

geese filling the air)

i scanned the horizon

in every direction

nothing

finally

turning my face

directly upward

i saw them

flying 

high and away

into the pink feathery clouds 

seemingly heaven bound

light from the great star

reflecting from their underbellies

then 

just before fading from sight

they turned

and  circled back

directly overhead

again

this time

so low 

i could hear 

the beating of their wings

north

they flew

the air was warm

the world 

still

“Every human being is “formed to be a spectator of the created world and given eyes that he might be led to its author.”  John Calvin

“So go to the window. go to the hills, the desert, the corner, the back door and be ravished and taken and awed.” Ann Voskamp

*This season of advent, i am reminded again of how at a particular point in history God came “low”. So low that one could actually hear the sound of his footsteps.