* We are where we are because we haven’t tried hard enough to be somewhere else.
* If you don’t like your situation, as long as you have breath in your body you are free to change it.
*People who conduct their lives in obeisance to desire for riches are the saddest and yet harbor the potential to be the vilest of all creatures.
* Keep in mind that this body we inhabit causes us much despair and grief and is surely to be discarded on that day when our spirit is freed – like an animal that has only known life in a cage. The face I see in the mirror is not me, it’s simply a part of this container in which my spirit dwells until that freedom arrives.
I walked out into the woods yesterday to take a long drought from a new cup of God’s creation – it was a beautiful early spring morning with a plethora of songbirds singing like they demanded to be heard. Indeed, I spent a lot of the morning listening to them. They sang of greenery beginning to transform twigs and limbs, as heaven is about to reveal a majestic dogwood bloom. Their song welcomed a gentle breeze from somewhere south that has come to visit our obscure Ozark hollow. The song indeed brings with it a gift of warmest elation that only a morning of God’s springtime grace can provide, but mostly it allows me to understand and appreciate that I am truly a blessed soul to be in the hallowed company of the Lord Jesus on this glorious day.
An aged crow came near and watched as I pondered events going on in the other world. This modern time in which we find ourselves has brought the ability to hear of and see things happening in faraway places which people never could do before. Sadly, nowadays most of this news is not good. The old crow behaved as though he knew what I was thinking. Did he share my sympathy for those who cannot enjoy the rapture of a fine spring morning because they are ensnared in conflicts over which they have no control? Was he wishing, as I was, that there was some way to make peace in places devastated by war and end the needless death and destruction? Maybe a way to bring food to the tables of the destitute and hungry?
A lemon-yellow butterfly gently wafted by on the breeze in search of early flowers, at first glance seemingly oblivious to the vanity and evil of the travail we humans bring upon ourselves. It further reminded me that there is another aspect of this existence, one that is served to us from another place – a place of peace, of wholesomeness, and of serenity where God-given wisdom demands that we should seek to be, a place where the spirit can prosper. I wondered what, if that beautiful little insect could talk, it would say to me, but then I became astonished to realize that it was talking – saying profound things I could indeed hear, but only when I listened closely, for it was actually my own heart speaking without words, of things I already knew, but to which I hardly gave deserved thought.
The gravity of events in the world is beyond the ability of most to comprehend, but the pain of those on the receiving end of such terrible events, who often lose their (often piteous) earthly possessions, their cherished homes, but most of all their loved ones – taken from them by untimely deaths at the hands of other human beings – must be unbearable. Their grief consumes all of us whether or not we choose to acknowledge our part in it. As the blood of Abel cried to God from the ground, so the blood of murdered innocents in diverse places cries to any and all who might join, or at least empathize with their pleas for justice, that is every member of the human experience, including those who understand nothing beyond foolish celebrity gossip, sports, or decadent fast foods. The question my butterfly asks is, “Are there any who will listen?” Sadly, I do not have an answer for him. Do you?
A poor carpenter’s son once said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” That’s the same God who creates crows and butterflies, and with His mighty breath, sends us a springtime breeze. He’s the One who continuously beckons us with subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle messaging that urges us to listen to our inner selves where dwells the heart on which He has written laws by which He intends us to live. If we all could find the courage and determination that also comes from Him, we could work together to put an end to those conflicts and bloodshed would undoubtedly cease. What an incredible honor – to be recognized by all of heaven and earth as a child of the Great and Almighty – the Most High God!
The creatures and forests of spring ever bode a hopeful time, a time of joy and reverie heralded by new sunny days of warmth and optimism. We have opportunity, as tiny green shoots emerging from dormant twigs, to seek the Creator from whom all blessings flow so that we might blossom into the beings that He has always intended us to become. We have for now, the opportunity to seek Jesus Christ, whose sovereignty, love, and friendship we would do well to invite and to inculcate in our lives. He is the only answer in these troubled times. The ONLY answer. I know this because of all the springtime creatures, the birds and butterflies, that kept screaming it in my ears this morning. And because there are horrible things happening in this world that would not be happening if we only listen to the wisdom God put in our hearts. That wisdom can be understood and appreciated by actually living in and taking our rightful place as part – indeed the crowning essence of – His creation, among the birds and spring flowers, and our fellow human beings which we should regard as nothing less than precious, according to His own wisdom and grace.
Men of ill repute have arrogated to themselves unmerited authority, and vast earthly fortunes. They gather in dark halls to shuffle the cards and deal misery and Godlessness to multitudes, even nations, of the less fortunate who can only attempt to play the miserable hands they are dealt. Needy and destitute people in faraway places, even in our own country, plead for relief and yet they suffer and starve, because the “gods” to which they plead are not gods at all.
God, the Father of Jesus Christ, to Whom I pray gives relief in the form of peace in my heart – peace and comfort which is multiplied and displayed in its fullness upon the majestic arrival of springtime!
Get right with Jesus and enjoy the spring and His abundant love while there’s still time!