Knowing & Knowing

I know that photos get doctored all the time these days and you can do almost anything with Photo-Shop, but these pictures are just what they appear to be. A few months back Florence began to coax some of the local chickadees with some peanuts. I was pretty excited for her when they began landing on her hand and taking a nut from her. I was so happy that this brought such simple joy to her heart and I was more than content to revel in her experience.

Then the other day, she convinced me to give it a try. I didn’t really understand why she thought that I should. My attitude was clearly wondering what the big deal was. I had seen them do it and knew all about how they would come and take the offering. I guess that is why I was surprised by how much pleasure it gave me suddenly when it happened! The actual experience of having these gorgeous little creatures of God drop out of the wild and light on your palm is far beyond just watching it happen. Before, I had been quite content to just be there and watch the cute little guys with their little caps on and observe the pleasure it seemed to give her to have them come. But I had no idea of what it actually felt like. I hadn’t even really thought about what it would feel like. I knew that Florence enjoyed it because she likes to watch them and feed them. And so I thought that I had been experiencing them coming and doing that just by being there and observing it. But when it was my finger they came and clutched onto, the whole thing just somehow jumped to a new level of life experience. It became somehow very different while remaining the same thing. Somehow experiencing it personally made it so much more than what it had been.

Suddenly I could feel their weight. They are just little guys and they weigh maybe about as much as a very large grape. But I could feel it. I hadn’t even thought about their weight previous to that. I mean seriously, why would anyone think about how much a chickadee weighs, right! And I could feel their little feet clutching. I hadn’t thought of that before either because you can’t really see it. It just looks like they come and sit. But they don’t. They actually hang on. And it feels amazing , not unlike having a baby take hold of your finger.

Sometimes it is like that with us and God. It is one thing to know by observing or studying. That is in itself a great blessing for sure. But personally experiencing a relationship with God, having Him forgive you and move in your heart and work in your life is so much more. It so much surpasses mere knowledge of Him and is so amazing that words and pictures both fail to convey it. There is just no substitute for personal experience. There is nothing that can take the place of it.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.”