Natural Wood Floors
October 11, 2008 – 3:04 pm
The Methodist Church was founded by John Wesley, an Anglican Minister. Following a difficult and discouraging mission trip to America, he questioned his faith. In 1738, at the age of 34, John Wesley attended an evening worship service in London which moved him deeply. In his journal, Wesley described his "Aldersgate experience:"
In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.
Well, this morning I experienced something that might not qualify as an Aldersgate experience, but my heart was strangely warmed. This is my experience…
I was sitting during devotion time early this morning and I thought about how my feet were feeling the hard wood floor. I looked at the floor and saw the grain in the wood. My mind became very aware of my feet. I became profoundly thankful for the wood that God created and the years of time it took for the tree to grow. Not that the wood was created for me, but the profundity that I was walking upon wood that took years to grow; that grew out of the ground; that drank from the rain and grew from sunlight; and that God created and now the wood from that tree (which probably started growing well over a hundred years ago in a place that I will never know, each board possibly from a separate tree - maybe a hundred or so) in my house under my feet flat, smooth, and beautiful.
Thanks be to God for all that we are given! May we use it wisely!
