Evidence: Mushrooms and Hearts

   Isn't Google a Great Thing?

   This morning as I walked out, the first thing that caught my eye was the sight of mushrooms where there had not been yesterday.

   That got me to thinking, a dangerous activity this early, where do they come from? Why are they where they are? I know that they usually come after some wet weather, but why in that spot on the golf course?

   So, I came back home and looked it up, or rather I Googled it by asking the question, "why do mushrooms grow where they do?" There I found the answer I sought.

   Mushrooms are fungi, growing all of the time under he surface, and the part that I see is the flower, so to speak, of the plant that has "bloomed" because of the rain. It was there all the time, but it took some water to bring it out into the open. It is an evidence of something unseen, but real.

   Of course this has a spiritual application as well. What lies hidden in my heart is brought forth by some act, or something that acts upon it. Example:

   I sat in church yesterday morning, as is my habit, not knowing what would happen there, as I imagine a lot of others in that service did. The pastor was not preaching that day, and I just wondered if it would be meaningful to me. There was the first problem, "me".

   Our worship leader was in charge. Not only did he lead the music, but the message was his also. He spoke on worship in the church and gave several illustrations of how we as a people could participate in worship. Then at the end, he led us in that time of personal worship, in silence, in prayer and in music.

   He invited us to participate in all of those ways, or in any that we were led to.

   Then the mushrooms started to appear. People responded in visible ways. As I sat in the back, I saw folks moving to the stage to put prayers on a prayer wall, I saw others moving to the communion stations to worship in that act, I saw others at the altars in front, and still others sitting quietly, heads bowed, worshipping with the music or the quietness of the moment.

   It seems there was a lot of unseen things of the heart being brought out in that time. I felt it too, as I quit observing and participated. It was truly a worship time.

   Some Google posts on the mushroom question presented the idea that there is sometimes a vast underground system of fungi that we cannot see unless the proper conditions for flowering come. I saw that in the natural world this morning, but I experienced it firsthand in the spiritual realm in that sanctuary on that Sunday morning.

   From the reactions, I believe God caused that for a lot of others, too.

   Gratitude is my prayer.