Herons - By Ollie Greenfield

In times of searching and seeking wisdom, God can often use seemingly ordinary or unexpected things to reveal something of himself to us.

Elijah discovered this when he expected God to speak through the wind, the earthquake and the fire, but instead encountered him in the gentle whisper. Moses was completely caught off guard when he came across a burning bush that wasn't being consumed. God has a wonderful way of speaking through the unexpected.

Last year, I found myself in a season of searching. I felt unsettled, worried, and desperate for an answer from God. For me, those answers rarely come as clearly or dramatically as they seemed to for Moses. 

During that season, I took many walks around my local RSPB reserve, St Aidan's. I'd always loved visiting for the peace and beauty of the natural world, but as I spent time there praying and seeking God, I began to notice the qiuet and elusive bird, the Heron and I felt God gently teaching me something through them.

Herons stand patiently in rivers and shallow water, waiting for the right moment. They don't rush around chasing every movement. If they did, they would waste energy and miss the very thing that would sustain them. Instead, they remain still. They stand in the middle of flowing water, with other birds flying and calling around them, trusting that if they stay where they need to be, the right opportunity will come.

I realised that I was trying to do the opposite. I felt I needed to rush, fix the problem, and force an answer to find the solution I was looking for. Yet God was inviting me to slow down instead.

It was in standing in God's presence, rather than striving in my own strength, that I found the peace I needed. The situation around me didn't suddenly disappear, but God gave me the strength to stand in the middle of it. As I waited on him, opportunities began to appear. Like the heron standing in the current, I discovered that God's presence was the place where I would be sustained.

Since then, I've developed a real admiration for herons. I get excited whenever I spot one. They have become a gentle reminder of what God taught me in that season: that his wisdom often calls us to slow down, to trust his timing, and to find our strength in him rather than in our own efforts.

My prayer for us all is to tune into the pace of God, which is often slower than we think, for in His presence do we find the very thing that sustains us.