Connection

Around 7:30 one morning, I walked outside my house and paused a moment on the driveway before beginning my daily walk. Like the doe I wrote about in the previous blog post, I needed to make sure no danger was lurking nearby.  

Much to my surprise, when I looked to my right, I saw the right rear flank of a deer, but the rest of its body was hidden by scuppernong vines. I readied my cell phone camera and then coughed softly, hoping the slight noise would startle the deer just enough to cause it to reposition itself but not enough to make it bolt. My tactic worked.

The deer backed up a bit in order to see the source and location of the noise.                                                                                                                    

I gasped with delight, not fear, when I saw a young buck. He stood stone still while I snapped a couple of photos. After I lowered my phone, we continued to make eye contact with each other for several seconds before he fled toward his home in the woods.

As I began my walk, I continued to feel the joy of that momentary connection. I thanked God for it—and the photos! I remembered that God wants all His creation to live in harmony. But since sin entered the world ages and ages ago and disrupted the peace and harmony and replaced it with antagonism, the creatures experience only rare and fleeting moments of connectedness (and trust!) that God desires to be the norm.

Innumerable reversals will occur one future day when God sets all things right. The prophet Isaiah mentioned many of them, including these:

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,

The leopard shall die down with the young goat,

The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;

And a little child shall lead them….

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD

As the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:6-9, NKJV

 

It’s hard to imagine such peace and harmony, such absence of fear and danger and aggression, isn’t it?

But all those miracles, and countless others, will happen when God says the time is right. Until then, I relish even brief moments of connection.

Onesiphorus (pronounced o-ne-sif'-o-rus)

A card a friend sent to me made me smile...and smile...and then smile some more. The message on the front mentioned how some people make life better for others. The inside message said I was one of them, since I have a kind heart and a generous soul. It also included a reminder for me not to forget how much I mean to others. 

Wow! The printed words lifted my spirit—and humbled me, at the same time. I felt thankful, too, for my thoughtful friend who had chosen that particular card for me.

As I thought about how much she had encouraged me, I recalled a passage of Scripture I'd read a few days prior. 

In 2 Timothy 1:16, Paul mentions how Onesiphorus had often refreshed him—or, as the Phillips translation says--"put fresh heart" into Paul, by helping him in various ways and in various places. Such kindness and support gave Paul the spiritual lift he needed to keep on keeping on. 

I don’t know anyone named Onesiphorus, which means “profit bringer,” but I know many people whom God has sent into my life to bring great blessings to me like Onesiphorus brought to Paul. And I am happy—and humbled—when someone considers me to be an Onesiphorus to them.

Take Joy!

 “Hurry! You’ll want to see this,” my husband said.

I followed him to our bedroom window and stood beside him as we watched twin fawns running with joyful abandon around and around in our backyard. Their mother made no attempt to slow them down, though she kept a watchful eye on them as she grazed on tender blades of grass. So, around and around they went, their skinny legs fully extended. If deer could smile, I feel sure those fawns would have had huge grins on their spotted faces!

Naturally, I longed to take a picture of them, and I did try. However, by the time I’d grabbed my camera and sneaked as silently as possible to the edge of the deck closest to them, they’d stopped running. One was standing near its mother as she grazed underneath a cedar tree. I snapped a photo, though it wasn’t the one I wanted. Neither was it technically correct, due to distance, low light, etc.

We’ve seen the fawns another time or two since then, but they’ve never been running as wild and free as they were that morning. Was that their first time to try their legs in a wide open space? Whatever their motivation, their exuberance was obvious and such a delight to watch.

Come to think of it, it’s also a delight to watch people enjoy their lives, whether it’s a child splashing happily in a pool or an adult savoring a good meal or a runner crossing the finish line with arms high in the air…Since we humans love to see others relishing their experiences, surely our heavenly Father takes pleasure in seeing His children (and His animals) enjoying the life He has given them.

I came that they may have and enjoy life,

and have it in abundance—to the full, till it overflows.

~Jesus in John 10:10, Amplified Bible

No matter how difficult life is, 

I will rejoice in the LORD. 

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Paraphrase of Habakkuk 3:17-18

Eyes on Me!

In October 2013, my husband and I spent several days at Pipestem Resort State Park in West Virginia. Each morning and evening, several deer grazed quietly on the lush green grass outside our room in the lodge. Whenever we opened the sliding glass door, they would come right up to the patio, eager for food. Though they were wary of us, they stayed nearby, watching our every movement, as the doe is doing in this picture I took.

I thought about that experience with the deer as I read (two years later) the Jan. 20^th devotional in The Listening Heart by Judy Gordon Morrow.  Each devotional in that wonderful book is a summary of what she sensed God saying to her as she talked with Him each morning about the challenges she was facing. For that day’s devotional, she’d written about how she sensed Him urging her to stay focused on Him, to watch and wait to see how He would help her with all the difficulties she was facing. “…eyes on Me, ears attuned to My voice, hearts willing to obey.”

That, Dear Reader, is excellent advice for you and me. Our Father will help us with our challenges, with our “overwhelm,” just as He helped her! Be glad about that. Thank Him. Watch and wait expectantly. And continue to thank Him for His love and help. 

…fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed,

for I am your God:

I will strengthen you,

I will help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10, ESV