The Meadow

On the bridge, which overlooks our foyer and family room, there is a small library.
There is wicker love seat, two chairs, and a table.
There are three large bookcases.
It is a space that beckons you to sit and stay a while.

Every time I go upstairs, there is a bookcase that is directly in front of me.
On that bookcase, all the books that my children and I read aloud together, are found.
I can see the spine of a book and know immediately which one it is.
One special book caught my eye.

It is a simple story with lovely pictures that children enjoy.
It is a book by Anna Grossnickle Hines.
It is entitled, Come To The Meadow.
It is one of those quiet books that must be read in a soft voice.

It is about a little girl named, Mattie, who wants someone to walk with her to the meadow.
Come to the meadow, Mother. Come to the meadow with me.
It’s full of monkey flowers and shooting stars and little tiny buttercups.
And so the book begins.

Mattie goes first to her mother who is too busy in the garden to go with her daughter.
Mattie, then asks her father as she lists other important reasons why he should go with her.
However, he has household repairs to do.
Mattie then tries to convince her sister but she has her own things to do.

Mattie tries to get her brother to go along but he planned a day of activities.
She tries one last person.
She asks her grandmother to go with her.
Her Granny, who is washing the windows, gets down from her footstool to listen.

Her Granny repeats all the wonderful things that Mattie tells her she will see in the meadow.
Granny enthusiastically agrees to go with Mattie.
Granny leaves her bucket, her rag, and her footstool to do something more important.
Granny not only agrees to go, Granny makes it a special occasion.

Granny prepares a lunch so they can take it along with them.
Granny tells Mattie all the things they will bring.
When Mattie suggests other things they could add to their lunch, Granny agrees.
As they walk out of the house, all the other family members see them.

They are going to the meadow, straight to the meadow.
They are having a picnic.
Each family member drops what they are doing to come along.
All because someone took the time.

My children loved that book but I must confess that I loved it even more.
The concept of the meadow calls to me.
The concept of the meadow is something that people closest to me have heard me say.
I long for the meadow, I say often to myself and a few close friends.

I had lunch with a dear friend and I shared the concept of the meadow with her.
I long to go to the center of a meadow with no one else around.
I would bring my Bible and plop myself down in the center.
I would like to yell and scream and get out all the stuff that lingers around inside.

I searched her face to see if she understood.
She let me continue.
There isn’t anyone I would yell at, or any particular thing that makes me want to scream.
I just feel that it would be healthy, refreshing, and cleansing in some way to get it all out.

My friend is older and wiser than me.
She will be 79 years old next month.
She understood completely what I was saying.
Stuff accumulates, it weighs us down; it either festers or it gets released.

She sat across the table; our salads unfinished before us.
You need your meadow, honey! She said with a twinkle in her eye.
Go to your meadow, honey.
Go scare the cows!

I began to laugh.
I began to laugh one of those belly laughs that comes over you from deep within.
Go scare the cows, I repeated and laughed some more.
The other people in the restaurant must have wondered what we were up to.

You need it; we all do.
Sometimes we just have to get it out, whatever IT is.
My friend is right.
I needed to go to the meadow as much as little Mattie from our beloved book.

We talked about the meadow as we sat there and finished our salads.
I cannot even think of a meadow that is exactly like the one in my mind’s eye.
I can think of a few other places I could go for the solitude I seek.
It is a retreat I long for in the midst of the dailiness of life.

We all need a meadow.
We all need a place of stillness and solitude.
We all need a place we can go and get rid of the stuff that clutters our minds and hearts.
We all need to scream at the fallen-ness of life before we calm our hearts to see the beauty.

And calm our hearts we must.
We must find our meadow.
It could be the solace of a porch swing.
It could be the solitude we have in our cars.

It could be a long walk as we surround ourselves with the beauty of nature.
It could be quietly sitting next to the ocean feeling so small compared to the grandeur of the sea.
It could be in our homes when no one is around.
The meadow beckons.

My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and the storm.” (Psalm 55:4-8)

We all need that place of shelter, far from the tempest and the storms of life.
You may not even be able to pinpoint the thing that is hindering your joy.
There is always stuff.
There are always the “joy robbers” that usurp our peace.

Go to the meadow and scare the cows if you must!
The meadow is a necessary place.
Flee to it; flee to your place of shelter.
The Lord Jesus is waiting for you there.