Charlotte’s Praise
“How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” Psalm 104:24
According to Philip Yancey, Flannery O’Connor once wrote an article about her peacocks and the reactions they would get as they unfurled their feathers. One truck driver yelled, “Get a load of that!” and braked to a halt. Most people would simply fall silent. O’Connor’s favorite response came from an old black woman who simply cried, “Amen! Amen!”
I can certainly relate to this story. This past Friday I took a DVD containing some of my “slide shows” over to one of my home bound members. Charlotte is in her late eighties and under hospice care. She is an elder at our church and considered a “saint” by just about everyone. As we sat together in her bedroom and watched the programs on her television Charlotte kept raising her hands into the air and saying, “Hallelujah” and “Thank you, Lord.” She had the sweetest expression on her face.
I had a feeling Charlotte would enjoy the programs. She loves God’s Creation and especially all the creatures He has made. Every day she feeds over seventy ducks. She calls them her “babies” and has given many of them names. With great pride she told me Friday she now has eighteen baby ducks coming up to her back porch. She is also delighted that a groundhog (named “Homer”) is also coming up to finish up all the leftovers. When she talks about animals her sentences are almost always prefaced by the words, “Ain’t it miraculous…”
Charlotte Mann has no trouble seeing God in His Creation. For her all that God has made bears witness to His love and power. My heart was sincerely touched as I watched Charlotte offer God praise as she watched my slide shows. I’m not sure which one of us got the greater blessing. I just wish more people were like Charlotte—not afraid to offer God worship and praise for the work of His hands. He truly is worthy of all the praise we can give Him! Just ask Charlotte…
–Chuck
(Pictured above are two of God’s wonderful creatures I’ve been privileged to photograph–a baby eastern cottontail and a western chipmunk.)