Where God Is Leading
As Kingfishers Catch Fire
by Gerard Manley Hopkins
As king fishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.
I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is —
Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.
In the movie Dogma, the heroine, Bethany, a direct descendent of Jesus, is visited by an angel. She has just said her prayers and gone to sleep, and suddenly, there’s a sound in her room, a kind of thump and a “Unh.” She fades back into sleep.
Then, out of nowhere, a fire starts in her room, but nothing is consumed. But from the fire comes a voice, “Behold the Metatron, the Herald of the Almighty and Voice of the One True God.” The main character pulls out her fire extinguisher and puts the fire out.
What are you? Bethany asks. The angel answers, “I am pissed off!”
Wings spring forth from his back. “I am the Metatron… A seraphim, the highest choir of angels. You do know what an angel is don’t you? Any person says they’ve spoken to God, they’ve spoken to me. Or, well, they’re speaking to themselves. “
When was the last time you were visited by an angel?
Now, mind you, the definition of angel in Greek (the word is angelos), is really just “messenger of God.” There are a lot of examples of angels in the Bible: three angels appear to Abraham to tell him that he and Sarah will have a child. An angel fights Jacob. Moses doesn’t really see an angel in the burning bush, but he sees one later as he’s going to Egypt, and the angel makes him get circumcised. Of course, Mary and Joseph are told by angels that Jesus is coming. And now we have this one in Acts.
There’s no indication that a bright light, fire, or a loud voice is what the Bible means when speaking about angels. The men that Abraham feeds seem to be just that—people.
It’s quite possible that the angel that Philip meets is just a person. Just someone who is saying something that God wants Philip to hear.
But wouldn’t life be easier if an angel with wings in fire showed up and told us what to do with our lives? I’d pay millions of dollars for that. Okay, I don’t have millions of dollars, but I would pay fives of dollars.
How exactly do we know what we should do, how we should make decisions about our lives, how we can follow that which God would have us do?
Listen again to the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889), who was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest.
As king fishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.
Hopkins is talking about what one critic calls “inscape,” that each being has within it it’s purpose and meaning. Kingfishers are brightly colored birds and their colors are like fire, dragonflies have an amazing iridescence, they “draw flame.” Over and over again, the first stanza tells us that people follow their meaning, their purpose, and their nature. “Each mortal thing does one thing,” best read as “itself speaks and spells.” What I do is me, for that I came.
The first way we realize our potential, knowing whether we are in God’s will, is to ask the question, “Am I following my nature?”
I have a friend who is a tax attorney. Now, typically, a tax attorney’s Myers-Briggs will be an INTJ. They’ll be introverted, intuitive thinkers who like to finish projects. My friend is an ENFP, an extroverted, intuitive feeler who has a hard time finishing projects. He had been a tax attorney for a couple of years, and couldn’t figure out why he was so unhappy, so he took a bunch of tests. And all the tests said, “You’re in the wrong job!”
He’s still a tax attorney. But a much happier one. See, with his Myers-Briggs, he loves to make relationships. He sees his job now as building relationships with people, based around the fact that they need to think about their financial future. Taxes have become the vehicle by which he builds relationships.
Some clues that you’re doing what your inscape would require? A sense of peace about your work. Not waking up every day dreading what you do. When we are in our element, we are in our place.
But when we’re not in our place, how do we figure out how to?
I’m reading a book right now called Christ in the Seasons of Ministry by John Killinger. In a chapter called Summer, Killinger writes about the finding the strength to serve, and tells of a friend named Wayne who has lost his job as a seminary professor, then another as a non-profit leader. Killenger writes:
There didn’t seem to be work anywhere. The outlook was bleak. Wayne fell into depression. He had trouble eating and sleeping. Friends feared a breakdown.
While despondency reigned, Wayne turned desperately to an attempt to renew his neglected prayer life. One of his discoveries was of an ancient method, practiced by St. Ignatius and his monks, of fantasizing a relaxing scene, putting themselves in it, and permitting God to lead the action from there.
Wayne thought of his favorite places…he had loved the rockbound coast of northern New England. Trying to relax, he pictured himself walking along that coast on a warm, sunny day in June. The heat felt good through his shirt, and soon he felt his muscles becoming free and less tense. It was a beautiful day, and he thought he could smell the wonderful salt air as it filled his lungs. Gulls were flying overhead, calling out to one another as they dropped shellfish on the rocks below.
Soon Wayne felt so good that when he saw a path leading down the cliff to the rocks below, he took it, and was soon climbing over the stones at the very edge of the water. Then he saw a bottle floating in the edge of the tide, and could see that there was a message rolled up inside. Instinctively, he knew the message was for him. It was something God wanted to say to him at this stressful time of his life. He must have the bottle! Wading out into the surf, a few feet, he rescued the bobbing container, and had soon thrust his finger inside and retrieved the little scroll. He was tingling with excitement, because he knew it was God’s word for him.
Hodie christus natus est.
That was the message, in Latin.
Hodie christus natus est.
“Today, Christ is born.”
At first, he was disappointed. Then “he realized it was a message he had forgotten. He might have known it, but it had gotten crowded out in his busy, desperate life. Now, in his hour of great need, it had come back as gospel, as Good News. ‘Today, Christ is born.’ And it happened inside Wayne. The indwelling Christ returned, and he began walking in the Spirit again. All his fears and anxieties, all his concerns about life and livelihood, moved to the periphery again, out of the center, so that the Spirit could live at the center.”
The truth is, God is going to speak. Whether it’s through your nature, through Mother Nature, through your imagination, your dreams, or an angel, a messenger, God will lead you where you need to be.
But where is God leading?
We are to share Christ with people in the world. Like Philip speaking to the Eunuch, we share Christ. Now, mind you, you all know that I’m not big on evangelism, whatever that is, but we are to share Christ, the gospel, the Good News with people. And what’s that good news? You know what the good news is for you. Share it. That is where God is leading.
Like my friend the tax accountant who isn’t overjoyed with numbers or laws, or even completing anything, we have to find that thing that makes us that makes us happy. There’s your nature, follow it. That is where God is leading.
And, like Wayne, you have to remember that “Today, Christ was born.” Let this God who we serve fill you up, lead you, center you, hold you, comfort you, bless you. That is where God is leading.
Let’s go back to the Hopkins poem:
I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is —
Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.
God is leading you to grace and justice. God is leading you to act as God acts, like Christ, because in every face you see, there is Christ, “Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his.” You are to be Christ in the world. That is where God is leading.