Let me begin with a question. Do you walk in this world with the audacious belief that the Star-Breather desires to draw near to you in deep and meaningful ways? Pay attention to your response and it will tell you lots about how your heart and mind view Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I know the answer to that question. I know that He is close. I know He is all around me and inside of me. I know He leaves love letters all over the place for us. I know He manifests His Presence in all kinds of wonderous and magical ways to delight the child within us. I know it because I look for Him and set my mind and heart (as Paul tells us in Colossians 3) on things above. I’m not special in this “knowing”. He wants all His children to know that we know that we know.

Unfortunately, that “knowing” is one of the few things I can’t teach you. Seeing His Presence and hearing His voice is a personal journey of faith. It is deciding to not stand on the safe ground of religion, but to leap off the precipice into His arms that are waiting to catch you in a full-blown love affair. When you leap, the entire course of your faith journey changes and you are led by love instead of rules and fear. His Kingdom is here but so is the world and each of us has to decide where we will walk and what our hearts will see and hear.

Because the Holy Spirit custom designs your relationship with Him, I can’t teach this to you. Not my job at all. It is the Spirit’s work as you yield to His direction. What I can do, however, is tell you stories. My stories of how He draws close.

So, onto the flock of seagulls…..

Over the last 25 years, I have spent much time at a local park. I walk, I sit, I fish, and I ponder at this park. Much of my journey toward moving in synchrony with the Holy Spirit has come from my time at this park.

In all the time I have spent there over the years I have never seen a seagull (pretty far from the seashore in East Tennessee), but almost a month ago a flock of seagulls appeared. I first saw them on a cold and gloomy day when, in all honesty, my mood matched the weather. At the beach, seagulls tend to be commonplace and often are quite annoying to beachgoers. They are like ocean pigeons….commonplace and ignored. But on that day and in that place, they caught my eye and quickened my heart.

I opened my eyes wider because it was an unexpected sight. I immediately stopped dead in my tracks and knew…..I knew that God saw me and the condition of my heart. He sent seagulls to me because He knows I love the seashore more than any other place. On my first lap around the almost mile long path around the island, one seagull flew away from the flock and followed me around the other side of the island and then rejoined the flock. On the next lap, three seagulls followed me away from the flock and around to the other side of the island walking path. I again stopped dead in my tracks and watched them fly over the lake water. It was indescribably beautiful as I watched them dance over the water. They moved in and around each other for the longest time. I saw the Trinity. I saw Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in perfect joy and glory. God was manifesting to me. He sent the flock of seagulls to speak to me in the most personal way.

My mother-in-law died later that day. We had been expecting it and knew it was close, but I knew she would die that day. I knew it after I watched the Trinity dance before my eyes. A holy moment to be sure. When I returned late in the afternoon to walk again, the gulls were gone. I wasn’t sad about that. I was actually awed by the fact that He loves me so completely that He would send me a piece of the shore. During the second walk, my husband called to tell me his mom was with Jesus.

I understand the risk of me telling you this story. You could scoff; you could explain coincidence to me; you could teach me about weather and migration patterns of birds; you could laugh at me or roll your eyes; you could recommend medications to me. Or you could feel a little tickle of hope in your spirit. You could feel a stirring of long-ignored wonder start to move in your heart. That is how seeing and hearing the Kingdom begins.

Our God is not far away. He is showing Himself to us and calling to us in our weariness to tell us He sees us and adores every iota of our being. Showing us we don’t have to do life by ourselves. Showing us that His promises are true and He is good.

I stand in awe and wonder in His presence. And He gives the greatest gift….He restores unto me a childlike faith. The world steals that from us as we grow to adulthood. Who is the prince of the world? Satan. Who would want to steal from you the very thing that Jesus said we needed (the faith of a child)? Satan. He sent His Holy Spirit to His children to guide us into all truth and wisdom. We won’t progress down the narrow path without that guidance. Oh my lands, does He ever have big huge epic things to show you and tell you. Would you, could you, step off the precipice of religion and straight into fiery love?

I’m getting ahead of myself. I haven’t finished my story. The flock of seagulls has returned and grown. They fly and swoop and dance over the calm waters of my park. They sing their funny songs and delight me with reminders of all my best walks with Jesus down sandy beaches. God has outdone Himself with that gift. As I walked just yesterday, I again stopped to watch His love for me fly around and dance before my eyes in the form of seagulls. One in particular flew away from the flock and flew close to me. The above pictures are of that one gull who danced just for me.

Look with Kingdom eyes and hear with Kingdom ears. That same love He lavishes upon me is meant for you as well. If you seek, you will find.