Beauty surrounds us, but we usually need to be walking in a garden to know it - Rumi
In the summer, after a busy day in the garden, I often sit to relax with a cup of coffee on the bench beside the fish pond. The pond is always alive with a myriad of tiny, and some not so tiny, creatures, all dashing about finding food where they can. But there is one creature in the pond that has fascinated me from childhood. It is the little pond skater. You may know him as water strider, water skeeter, water bug or water skipper; he is known by a variety of names across the country. What makes him so interesting is that he is anatomically built to transfer his weight to enable him to run on top of the water's surface. In other words he can walk on water! Now, reason and logic will dictate that this is impossible, yet he spends his life doing just that.
That always reminds me that reason, logic ,experience and even reading scripture can only go so far in proving faith. Beyond these it is a matter of belief, you just have to trust that there is something there to support and sustain you, which of course there is. You may recall the Apostle Peter seeing Jesus walking towards his fishing boat across the lake. In response to Jesus' invitation Peter jumped out of the boat to walk to meet him, even though reason and his experience as a fisherman told him that it was impossible for him to do so. Still he tried but soon sank crying to the Lord to save him. (Matthew 14:29) But in that moment he discovered that Jesus was the support he needed to stay afloat, just as we Christians can be sure that Jesus is the foundation on which our faith is built. With that in mind, I can only say, when watching the tiny pond skater: 'I believe Lord, help thou mine unbelief' Mark 9:24. There is yet another name by which our little pond skater is known in some parts; the Jesus bug! Now you can see why.
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AuthorI am an Authorised Local Preacher in an Anglo Catholic parish church, in the Diocese of Essex UK Archives
February 2022
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