Tag: Christian living

  • Patience

    Herons can teach us something about waiting for the Lord

    Blue heron

    Wow, it’s October already. Where did September go? I had just  managed to start writing dates as September rather than August, and it’s gone. The month felt about two weeks long.

    I’ve been down with a nasty cold for the past week or so and have been largely stuck in the house. Yesterday, we took some time to drive to a local area park, where we could sit in the quiet and sun, while remaining a safe distance from others.

    We enjoyed watching the ducks and seeing a great blue heron work its way along the opposite bank from us. In this area, we are blessed to have a plethora of herons, mostly great blues, but also some greens, and bitterns.

    Herons are masterful and patient hunters. They can remain motionless for an extended period of time and then extend their necks and beaks forward at explosive speed to nab unwary prey. Every move is calculated and often in seemingly slow motion.

    Yesterday’s heron managed to spear a few small fish and some other unidentified prey as it worked its way down the shore. Now and then it seemed to miss, but it was successful more often than not.

    I confess that I’m nowhere near as patient as a heron. I keep praying for patience, and God answers by giving me things to be patient about. Still, I’m glad He is patient with me because I seem at times to be a very slow learner and prone to wandering.

    Like children in the days before a birthday party or Christmas, we impatiently long for His return. Almost every day, someone seems to claim to know when that will be, usually based on a tabloid theological interpretation of some world event combined with a misinterpreted passage of Scripture.

    There is no doubt that His return is coming; Scripture speaks of it often. The long-awaited Day of the Lord will arrive. But, When?

    It will happen when God deems the time to be right.  Second Peter 3 is entirely about that day and speaks of God’s patience.

    But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:8-12 NIV

    It’s coming at the perfect moment, and Jesus has told us that no one will know the day or time. 

    How do we live in that tension? We stop worrying about when it will happen and live like it might be today. We love our neighbor, share the good news, and keep short accounts with God.

    That might not make us any less impatient, but it will sharpen our walk and enhance our witness as we wait.

    Trust His timing, live for Him, and He will be glorified.

    Kevin

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  • Out of the Blue – When the unexpected happens

    merlin in crabapple tree

    The robin was suddenly smacked with a bolt out of the blue. A  merlin (a type of small falcon) dropped, seemingly out of nowhere, and knocked it out of the air. They both hit the ground with a thud in front of me, and there was a brief flurry of feathers.

    The strike must have been a little off target as the robin flew away while the merlin flew up into the nearby crabapple tree. It sat there for a few moments, looking a little stunned.

    Score: Robins: one, Merlins: nil. This time.

    Sometimes, life can be like that. We are cruising along, living life as usual, when some major problem hits us out of the blue. There is no warning at all, at least none that we noticed.

    It can come as a job loss, an illness, a marital breakdown, a death in the family, an economic collapse, or any of ten thousand or more different scenarios. Whatever the problem, it leaves us shaken and stunned.

    We wonder what happened. We wonder where God is in the midst of it all. We wonder how, or even if, we will survive.

    We begin to realize that we aren’t as much in control as we had imagined. In truth, there is very little that we do control. We’re not the center of the universe, and not everything falls under our purview. 

    That’s actually a good realization to have, even if we came to it the hard way.

    Jesus spoke on that subject.

    “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:25-31

    Remember when times of testing come (and they will), God is in control. He knew about it before it happened, even if it seems out of the blue to you. 

    We can trust Him, no matter what we face. The outcome might seem uncertain to us, but the one who holds the stars in His hands has our backs.

    Even when circumstances are hard, God is good.

    To paraphrase a Bobby McFerrin song,

    Here’s a little song I wrote

    You might want to sing it note for note

    Don’t worry, trust Jesus.

    In every life we have some trouble

    When you worry you make it double

    Don’t worry, trust Jesus

    Don’t worry, trust Jesus.

    Until next time, no matter what comes your way, remember that God is there for you.

    Kevin

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