Shrouded in Mystery

Early summer mornings were amazing. She walked out onto the deck into the delicious upper 50s and slightly damp morning. Ground fog rose across the land from the moisture left behind after the recent rains. The rolling hills of the plains of were swaddled in ethereal beauty--misty white rising and dissipating in warming rays of the sun.

Looking out over the land, she could barely make out shapes moving through the mist. She knew it was the horses and cattle on beyond, yet the shapes blended and blurred so that she could not distinguish one animal from another. Watching their shapes move at times she would see a head or shoulder or perhaps a tail swish as it swatted a fly.

At the edge of the woods she could make out one body with what appeared to be three heads--one facing east, one facing west, and one facing south. Watching them slowly graze their way toward the barn she could not distinguish one from the other clearly. Heads, flanks, legs would appear and then disappear as the ground fog moved across the land.

Eventually they finally worked their way to the pasture fence nearest where she stood. She could clearly see all three horses and they grazed, winding their way in a graceful ballet of fluid movement. As they appeared and disappeared she could not help but think they seemed to be shrouded in a sense of mystery. When they were farther from her the shapes were hard to interpret, but as they came closer and closer she could finally see the three rather than one.

Watching them, she began to speak to God in her morning prayers. As she prayed she thought of God--her creator, God--her Savior, the Christ, and God--the Holy Spirit which lived within and guided her in life. The trinity--a concept so difficult to understand and yet at this moment it seemed so simple. God in three forms--shrouded in mystery, but as she got closer to God--to God's heart the mystery dissolved so that only love remained.

God created her--and all that is. God came to live and walk with her--to teach her God's ways. God dwelled within her--whispering to her heart God's love, compassion, and wisdom for the path upon which she walked. Three, yet one, shrouded in her mind, but clear in her heart.

She didn't have to understand every detail to know that God, in all three forms loved her, cared for her, and would always be with her. The shroud of mystery didn't blind her. The shroud of mystery intrigued her and drew her to desire to know more of God.

God of three yet one, draw us to you as we gaze in awe without full understanding. Dwell within us so that we may know you. Teach us to delight in the mystery, knowing that as we draw closer to you, we will understand more of you. Guide us, God as we walk with you in this life into the shrouded mystery of the next. So be it. Amen.