It is day’s end.

Weary from hours of cranky people, challenged by the anxieties of an uncertain future, I begin the drive home. I am feeling the irony of the flashing neon-ness of church signs on my route, all insisting that they have the answer, the truth, the ultimate program of hospitality. Come here! Come as you are! We have what you seek, what you long for. We have God.

I work up a smile, thinking I just left that party.

Once home, I park the car, gather my belongings, and step into the evening air. The last of the lilacs gently scent the breeze and waft into my space. The fully blossomed tree leaves whistle and shiver like wind chimes and announce an approaching rain storm.

I drink all of this in with a depth and a release I had not been given all day.

I do not need begging signs.

It is the aroma of lilacs and the music of the trees that announce the presence and invitation of the Divine, that for which I long and seek. They sing the truth and invite me into the answers.

I say, “Yes God. Yes…”