THE FLAG OF THE UNIVERSE

My intention was to bike ten miles so I can look “bikini ready” when we leave for the coast of California next week. God’s intention was different.

I cheated, and drove the bike in the pickup to the bottom of our hill which is just too much to face after a fast, hard ride. Once my feet hit the pedals, I entered the essence of spring time. Cruising past fat robins flying low over green pastures, I saw a deer emerge at the edge of the woods, a cherry tree in full bloom over her sweet head.

Then the tulip fields came into view. We see these great blocks of color from a few rooms in our house. What a joy! Suddenly they struck me as a flag – blocks of fuscia, red, white, purple, orange- and the green stems where harvest had begun. Row upon row of outrageous, spectacular color…

The Flag of the Universe, I thought! Nations have flags…this is God’s version. Full blown, living color. I had hardly completed that thought when I heard the still, small Voice speak: You are like that to me. Each of you who bears My Name in their hearts is pure beauty, vibrant color and sweetly fragrant. I rejoice over you, over each of you. You all- individually and collectively – delight My heart. You are My flag of the Universe, a standard of beauty and love for all the worlds, for Angels, and for Me to behold.

A song rose up in my spirit as I biked past the swaths of bold color against the rich Cinnabar Loam in the bulb fields. “He reigns throughout the Universe. His glory covers all the earth….” I was meditating not on the fat burn and lean muscles I was seeking to create, but on the Creator that made such beauty in nature and in us. What a mind! Could I, given the chance to create the worlds as we know them, make such magnificence as a flower, as a person? What a Mind….

Later, on the way home, I drove through a shower of cherry blossoms. They washed over my face and rained down on me in a gentle, warm breeze. Life is rich. Life is good. Yes, there is war, devastation from hurricanes and floods. Yes winter was hard this year. But everything rights itself in the rich seduction of a warm spring morning.

I set out to work on my body but God worked worship into me and the song persisted throughout my ride back to the truck waiting at the bottom of the hill. Yes, He surely reigns throughout the Universe. And in me. In us, His flag of the Universe…