Dew

One morning, not too long ago, I was driving in a hurried way in my delapitated '96 VW Jetta to Audrey's babysitter, who just happens to live, literally, two blocks away. Late for work as usual. I dropped off Audrey in a flurry of kisses, instructions for Michelene, small chatter to Wes and Timmy and back into the front seat of my car I flew. I begin my usual 3-point turn on their dead end street and I am halted in my tracks...

Before me lies the most exquisite sight. I just stopped and took it all in.

Now you are wondering what on earth I saw and you are probably are imagining something really horrible or dramatic or shocking. Let me build the suspence a little more.

Some context: The days prior to this I had been struggling with such deep insecurities and strange anxiety. Catching myself comparing myself to anybody that walked past me and always trying to measure up but not succeeding. Reliving past mistakes and old failures that reaffirmed my already growing insecurity. And then, as if that wasn't enough internal angst already, I was growing nervous and down right scared about some certain foreboding changes in my future, namely finding Audrey another babysitter.

All of this seemed so strange to be loading up, piling up within me. If you know me at all, I tend not to be this insecure or prone to anxiety. I usually carry myself with quite a bit of confidence, sometimes to a fault, and I am definately not a "nervous Nelly" {kind of a funny pun, since my sister calls me Nelly}. I had sent some "shout-out's" for prayer via email to some close girlfriends and shared with my husband.

Well, God broke through that rushed Friday morning as I was beginning my 3-point turn. Before me lay what gardners describe as a "backlit garden". It really wasn't a garden, but a small yard of lawn. The early morning sun was shooting it's rays towards me, waking me up from my spiritual sleepiness. And what it was lighting up for me was the glorious, light-filled dew on the blades of grass. It was magnificent. Glittering, twinkling and radiant light.

And it occured to me. God's Spirit is like dew. He falls on us every morning and covers us in a thick blanket of dew. I could all of a sudden feel his mercy growing strong in me that morning.

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love I am not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is His faithfulness."

Dew is such a wonderful image. The Dictionary of Biblical imagery has some expository on this Biblical image. Dew is moisture condensed from the warm air by the cold ground. It is a symbol of provision, providing the water needed to keep crops and vegetation alive in a dry land, it is associated with manna falling from heaven.

That morning I felt the dew of God's great mercy and compassion enclosing every exposed surface of me and providing for me exactly what I needed until the sun rose higher in the day causing the dew of the Spirit to evaporate. But it was just enough for then. And this morning, it lingers on me again, resting thick and glistening.