Where God Hides on the Sun Dappled Path

The grassy path winds through Poplars, trodden to dirt in places. I pace briskly, goal in mind. Eyes on grass and dirt, I watch for mud patches as I speed through. Suddenly I realize I’m missing the point.

I’m surrounded by beauty, and focused on mud. I’m relaxing in nature, yet briskly pacing past.

I slow, raising eyes to the woods. Dappled sunlight wiggles under tree tops. I slow a little more, and notice an empty spider web. I stop moving; decidedly watching whatever stillness will allow me to see. A statue in the woods, I wait. Poison Ivy shimmies in patches above crunching. I pretend to be a tree as the scampering nears.


The tiny chipmunk leaps from under tall ivy onto a fallen Poplar. Spotting me, he stills.

Perched and standing, we stare; unmoving.

In the pause, the mass of swaying green suddenly becomes a collection of intricate details along a sun dappled path: Dewy webs tenuously strung. The cautious chipmunk that now munches an acorn, eyes me, unblinking. Round leaves flap. Pointed leaves fan humid air…

And suddenly all the world is a dappled path. Each moment – each person – an intricate detail in God’s secret design. Perhaps in the pausing one even glimpses God himself. Perhaps He hides in this secret garden; visible only when we still to look…