What a lovely May day it was. As I gazed out my back window, mesmerized by the deep blues of the hydrangeas and the emerging pinks and reds of the roses, a couple of horn-rimmed eyeballs caught my attention. What in the world was an owl doing in my pecan?
How easily we can slip into outright sin and its entanglements. Tie on your godly truths securely; or like your dangling shoelaces, the ways of the world will trip you up. Sir Walter Scott's quote may possibly encompass all the devil desires from us: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." Deception could be the root of all evil. The serpent in the garden used that ploy, and look at the sin that entangled us all.
As I longed to be out on the mountain trails this summer, the following quote by John Muir, writer and naturalist, caught my eye:
“People ought to saunter in the mountains, not hike! …people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre, to the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers.”
We spent the day in lawn chairs watching my brother, his grandsons, and a “windmill expert” assemble a 100-year-old windmill in our pasture. By the evening, the seemingly random pile of metal transformed into a functioning mechanism for pumping water from a hundred feet below the ground’s surface.
My Sunflower Vine vigorously twined up my garden trellis. I allowed a wild vine to grow nearby thinking they would just mature side-by-side. However, by the time I realized my mistake, the damage was done. The wild vine had choked my Sunflower Vine!
But, for that instant, I could rest in the quiet beauty when all was well. I must not miss those moments, for they are rare among the rush of the world. They exist as God’s good gifts, like His Son, His Salvation, His grace, His love, and His ever-present counselor, His Holy Spirit.
On multiple occasions God lifted David’s feet from the slimy pit and gave him a new song of praise. David faithfully documented those rescues with pen and parchment.
I walked through the pasture attempting to solve a mystery, an unusually large tangle of feathers hanging from the fence. However, upon closer examination, I gasped to see two large eyes from within the tangle staring directly into mine.
Have you ever stopped to help someone, but then later realized you were the one who was blessed?
Pythons like to slither into holes. A young Portland woman discovered this when her pet BART crawled into the gauge hole of her earlobe.
As we stood at the sink washing Thanksgiving dishes, the family secret was revealed. My mom casually mentioned how sad she was when they “put Dudley down.” My hands stopped scrubbing as I turned to her in unbelief. More than 30 years ago, I had believed my parents’ story about our dear German Shepherd they would take to live “on a farm with lots of kids and dogs.”
Sleep is the most precious commodity to a new mother. She will do just about anything to ensure her baby rests for as long as possible. Note on the door? Check. White noise machine? Purchased. Whisper and tiptoe. Obviously.
On a mission trip in Africa, I visited Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall in the world. The thundering roar can be heard from twenty-five miles away. As you approach, you realize that even if your words could be heard, they would be inadequate to describe the beauty before you.
In deepest grief, the writer of Lamentations wrote of the destruction of his beloved city and nation. Even though his people had experienced terrible atrocities and even though they were still experiencing pain and suffering, he made an amazing statement about God: …great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23).
God’s work of judgment is “strange” to Him. It’s a task alien to His nature. Scripture is clear that God’s act of judgment is always righteous and just, but as Lamentations states, God’s act of afflicting His people is not an act from His heart.
If I asked you to take a picture of something representing God’s mercy, what would your photo include? Would it be a selfie of you and your friend hugging—the friend you had previously hurt with your words. Would you take a picture of the warning you received from the police officer instead of a speeding ticket?
I was selecting lettuce in the produce section of the grocery store, when someone called my name. There stood my friend, who looked quite different from the last time I had seen him. He was thinner. He had no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes. This friend was being treated for cancer.
Sandwiched! Troubles behind and troubles on the horizon. We’ve all been there, right?
What is your typical response when difficulty hits?
My friend has an interesting testimony of how she became a believer in Jesus. No one in her family was a Christian. A man began coming to their home once a week and reading his Bible to the family. He did nothing more than read, but the power of God’s Word transformed every person in that family. One by one they came to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, a voice of truth to a nation who desperately needed to listen to God. God’s call to Jeremiah was clear. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5).
