Sure enough, the next time I walked the pond, I drastically changed my pace with my frequent stops to peer into the openings. The little frogs -- green, brown, orange -- peeked from their hiding places like proper little men poised under so many arched door frames. I had heard their song often, but I'd never actually seen them. Now that I knew where to look, I saw them everywhere.
This morning I found myself in Luke 11. Right off the bat -- with verse one -- I was drawn to the phrase, "Jesus was praying in a certain place . . . ." I looked up and soaked in my living room surroundings. Ensconced in The Big Chair (a hand-me-down gift from a friend and our family's very favorite place to sit), I was wrapped in a cream-colored, knitted cotton blanket (a thrifty find that thrilled me to the core with its five dollar price tag). A candle flickered on the coffee table (a birthday gift from a friend) as I sipped tea from my Polish pottery teacup (a gift from my husband when he and Bethie visited our family in Slovenia a few years ago). I was surrounded by simple yet deeply personal gifts.
This is my "certain place," my little hollow tucked in the split rail fence. And this morning I reveled in what it meant: the Lord is faithful. For years I've prayed that the Lord would give me time with Him and that I would delight in it. And He has done this. He has given our relationship "a certain place" where we meet together and -- whether it's a brief tete-a-tete or a lengthy conversation over weighty issues -- it's sweet and it belongs to my Savior and me.
We need Thee to bring us to Thee.
C.H. Spurgeon
The Lord has faithfully brought me to Himself. And just as He tucked Moses in the cleft of the rock, just as He created frogs with the instinct to seek the protection of frog-sized niches, so He has said, "This is our certain place, and I will always be here."
