Big Bold Beautiful Blue by Jessie Young | Artwork by Courtney Kendall | Interruptions

I asked, Would you teach me to know your voice?
I want to distinguish it above the rest, amidst the noise. I want to know you’re near, just like the
Big bold beautiful blue.

I didn’t see a bluejay that day.
I went on my way, back into the noise.
I continued to ask God to teach me his voice. I continued to ask God to show me the
Big bold beautiful blue.

I began to learn God’s sound through His Spirit and His Word I knew He loved me
I was being made new
I learn to recognize the call

Big bold beautiful blue.

I heard it one day, a glorious surprise I stopped short, a call so clear
It was undeniable
Into a nearby tree flew a

Big bold beautiful blue.

I thanked God that day
I learned the sounds
I knew when they were near I was forever changed
Big bold beautiful blue.

I stop, now, no matter what
I hear the cries and look around
I am reminded of his great love for me I give thanks to my Lord for his
Big bold beautiful blue.

Several years ago, I spent long afternoons at a silent retreat center near my home. On one particular spring afternoon, I asked the Lord to send a bluejay. I sat for a while and saw nothing. I asked him again, and the response surprised me. A question welled up in my spirit: “Would you recognize the sound of a bluejay if it was near? Would you recognize me if I was near?” I knew I had no idea what a bluejay sounded like. But God? Didn’t I know what his voice sounded like? Would I recognize it through the noise? I wasn’t sure. I was, however, sure I wouldn’t see the bluejay that day. I went home, disappointed. But God began a work in me that day that would forever change my life.

While on a silent retreat, I would often spend time in Isaiah 30 ESV. Through this passage, God gently showed me 3 things about himself: He waits graciously, He guides gently, and He gives generously.

God offers an invitation in verse 15, “For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.’ But you were unwilling...” The people rejected God’s invitation to return to Him, to find rest in Him, to trust in Him. As I reflected on the passage, I realized how often I reject God’s invitations to find rest and salvation in him. I have my own ideas that appear better and more satisfying. I go my own way. I demand. My relationship with the Lord takes on characteristics of a transaction: I ask, and he should give. That’s what happened that day by the creek. I asked to see a bluejay, and I expected God to produce. I was unwilling to accept anything else.

What does God do in response to the Israelites unwillingness to rest in him? Verse 18 says, “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you...” He waited. He showed mercy. God was doing the same to me. He was patient with me. It was the mercy of God to not just give me what I wanted that day at the retreat center. He had bigger plans for my request to see a bluejay. He was using it to patiently teach me more about who he was and how to recognize his voice. I wanted to be able to hear it above the noise. I didn’t want to be “unwilling.”

I learned God waits graciously.
I began to pray:
“Open, Lord, my eyes, that I may see.
Open, Lord, my ears that I may hear.
Open, Lord, my heart and my mind that I may understand.”

The passage goes on to say, “...yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, “This is the way walk in it. ” (Isaiah 30:20-21 ESV) Notice it says, “your ears shall hear a word behind you saying...” How many times do I run ahead of God, trying to chart my own path? I’m unwilling to listen. But when my eyes are opened, I recognize my position and repent of running ahead; God lovingly takes the lead once again.

John 10:27 (CSB) says, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.” Instead of trying to be the leader, thinking I know what’s best, I began to release my grip on my desires and surrender to my Lord’s leading. My desire to see the bluejay was now resting quietly in the shadow of the desire to know God’s voice and experience Him.

I learned God guides gently.
I continued to pray:
“Open, Lord, my eyes, that I may see.
Open, Lord, my ears that I may hear.
Open, Lord, my heart and my mind that I may understand.”

The once unwilling Israelites would turn back to God and begin to walk in God’s ways. “And He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, the bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous.” They would do their part, and he would do his. They would sow the ground and he would provide the water that makes the seed grow. As I spent time in God’s word and prayer, I began to recognize his voice. I sowed, and he watered. I knew what he sounded like. I wanted to be ready to follow Him when he called. Not in a transactional way, but out of obedience and love.

I learned God Gives Generously.
I will always pray,
“Open, Lord, my eyes, that I may see.
Open, Lord, my ears that I may hear.
Open, Lord, my heart and my mind that I may understand.”

A few months later, while out walking one brisk fall day, I heard a double squawk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of blue and stopped. There, high in a tree, sat a big bold beautiful blue. I recognized its sound; I knew it was near. I gave thanks to the Lord for that bluejay and the lessons learned, for his patience, gentleness, and generosity.

To this day, when I hear that double squawk, I stop, no matter what I’m doing. And I remember and give thanks.

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;

Great is your faithfulness.
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.”

Lamentations 3:21-23, 25 ESV

Questions:

1. Where might God be inviting you to release your grip and trust Him?

2. What could it look like to let him gently guide you in this area?

3. Who could you ask to journey together with you in prayer and accountability as you learn to trust
   God in this area?

4. What aspect of God’s character or passage of Scripture can you cling to as you allow Him to
   interrupt your plans and desires as you follow Him?

*Poem and article by Jessie Young. Artwork by Courtney Kendall. Originally published in Every Little seed Interruptions