A few months ago I was privileged to participate in a retreat with our Confirmation students at Bethel Horizon Retreat Center in Dodgeville. For the record, the students were not only a great deal of fun, but their participation and behavior was terrific. Our youth Coordinator, Teresa Palumbo along with Lou Jellings worked hard to give these young people a valuable experience of community rooted in the example of Jesus.

Now it so happened that on Saturday I had a couple of hours to myself in order to work on my sermon for the next day here at Messiah. The only space available was in a nearby office building named the Aldo Leopold Center for Nature Studies. As many of you may know, Aldo Leopold was a local naturalist and writer. As I walked around the nature center and “walked through’ my sermon I glanced at an exhibit of Leopold’s writings and photos. There on the wall in front of me was a wonderful black and white picture of Aldo Leopold standing at the door of his rustic shack contemplating the beauty of the world around him. Beneath the photo were these words – his words from 1941 -

Within a few weeks now Draba, the smallest flower that blows will sprinkle every sandy place with small blooms. He who hopes for spring with upturned eye never sees so small a thing like Draba. He who despairs of spring with downcast eye steps on it unknowingly. But he who searches for spring on his knees in the mud finds it – in abundance.

I contemplated using Leopold’s words and example in my sermon the next day, but I opted to place them in my to be used file and share them with you this month as we move into this wonderful season of summertime.

You see, while Leopold was speaking about a small plant called ‘Draba,’his words sound much like more familiar parables regarding ‘mustard seeds.’ Jesus was always cautioning people to ‘pay attention’ to the details of life. So often we get caught up looking to the skies for God – spending our time in contemplation or prayer waiting to talk to God – looking for God in the miraculous, the spectacular and the great moments of life. And certainly there are those times when we despair of ever finding God. With downcast eyes we stumble through life complaining about God’s silence and upset with God’s apparent indifference. Yet like Leopold’s words Jesus parables reminded people to ‘search for God on their knees and in the mud!’ Jesus was telling us that God is discovered in the details of life, in the ordinary moments that we live every day, in the simple breaths we take each day.

As we live this beautiful season of summer perhaps we need to re-think the way we look for God. Maybe this summer we need to spend more time being rooted in ‘this moment’ – ‘right here’ – ‘right now’. Maybe this summer we have to stop searching for God in the miraculous and start seeing the miraculous in everything. Maybe this month, this July, this summer we have to stop despairing of ever finding God and begin realizing that God is constantly finding us.

The promise of the Gospel is always the same, that the reign of God is within us and around us. If we pay attention to the way we speak with our spouses, families and those we love…if we pay attention to the way we interact with our co-workers, friends and fellow parishioners…if we pay attention to the thousands of ordinary everyday things that we do every day…if we pay attention we will discover God in abundance!