Issue 1552 – Carried – September 17, 20244
I am a little slow-minded this morning, so I pulled this one from around 2004 out of the archives.
We watched a pair of young grebes that have yet to be successful with their nest building. It keeps getting flooded out or collapses.
That sort of thing is not unusual for a young pair. We have seen the same thing happen to other pairs in the past. It is almost as if they are “playing house” the first year and getting used to the idea. We were privileged to watch them in a mating dance at sunset a few weeks later.
Last night, we passed a well-built, well-established nest further down the lake, but no one seemed to be home. I have been watching the parents return with fresh fish for the young for some time now, but I have not seen the babies yet.
Still further along, we saw the reason Mom and Pop Grebe were not home. We could see they had three young ones and were trying to teach them to dive and fish. It was amusing to watch. The young were quite noisy and aggressive when Mom would come up with a small fish for them.
As we drew closer, we realized there were four babies, not just the three we had seen at first. The youngest was still small enough to be carried on mom’s (dad’s?) back. It is hard to tell the male grebe from the female, and both are involved in child-rearing.
The baby traveled safely on its back wherever the parent went, including underwater.
Watching the grebe carry the baby, I was reminded of how our heavenly Father carries us. We think that we are adventuring out in the “big world” all alone, but He is never far away.
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in–behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:1-16 NIV
He knows us and everything about us. He is with us no matter where we travel. We can ignore Him and turn away, but He will never leave us.
The baby grebe will soon be big enough to be independent, and its parents will move on to other things. God never moves on to “other things.” We remain important from before our conception through all of eternity.
Praise the Lord for His faithfulness.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.
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