We Need Never To Feel Lonely

"Turn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted."

Psalm 25:16 (NLT)

Yesterday when I went for my walk, I saw five male Mallard ducks and one male goose congregating together near the shore while, most likely, their hens were hidden away on the island caring for their newly hatched babies. The five drakes and the one gander sure looked lonely and bored without their mates. I felt sorry for them.

Loneliness is a like a gaping whole in the heart. It leaves one feeling empty. It robs one of joy and happiness. Even in a midst of a crowd of people, the haunting feeling of loneliness can remain. It is a war within that many people battle with.

Many things can cause loneliness: no family support, a divorce, rejection, the death of a loved one, a failed relationship, the loss of a job, an uncaring and unfriendly church, a debilitating illness, a husband or wife who must travel and be away from home, a move to a new location, and so on.

Even Jesus felt the pain and suffering of loneliness. He felt it when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane and when He was being tortured and nailed to a Cross. He understands.

Jesus doesn't want any of us to ever feel the affliction and depression of loneliness. That is why we have His precious Holy Spirit who comes to reside within us when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour. The Bible says that God is with us always — not sometimes, or most of the time, but always.

"And be sure of this:

I am with you always,

even to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:20 (NLT)

We can be certain that no matter what happens in our world or in our individual lives, God will be with us to the very end. We need never to feel lonely.

The Blood That Was Poured

I love going for walks this time of year. It's the breeding season for birds, and one can see and hear many different kinds at the various swamp areas around my neighbourhood. One of the common kinds is the Red-Winged Blackbird. Tim came with me on last night's walk and took this picture of one in flight. The stark contrast of the red to the black on his wings is amazing.

When I look at this picture, the two colours reminds me of the blood Jesus shed for a dark world that is full of sin and ruled by Satan. Sometimes I wonder if, when God chose the colouring for this bird, there was a deeper meaning behind it. I don't see the omniscient God choosing colours randomly without reason.

"For this is my blood,

which confirms the convenant

between God and His people.

It is poured out as a sacrifice

to forgive the sins of many."

Matthew 26:28 (NLT)

Think Of Others As Better Than Yourself

I confess. I have this quirk. I will go out of my way to park my car in the most empty part of a parking lot, far away from stores, even in Arctic temperatures, to prevent the doors of my RAV4 from getting dinged or scratched. And if the parking lot is crowded, I'll park next to the most expensive cars I can find. If any of my sons complain, I just tell them the exercise is good for them. It's funny, but now three of my sons have picked up this habit with their own cars. However, yesterday God decided to teach me a lesson about what is really important. He put me to the test. I initially failed, but eventually passed.

On the way home from shopping at Walmart, I got rear ended. Yes, you heard me right. I couldn't believe it. I was stopped and waiting at an intersection because the light was red, when BAM! a pick-up truck slammed into me. My first thought was, "My poor RAV4!" I dreaded getting out of my vehicle to assess the damages, but when I got out, the first thing I noticed was the pathetic sorrowful look on a scruffy man's face as he got out of his truck and was coming towards me. I looked at his truck which was now only inches away from my vehicle. It was old, scratched, faded, dinged, and rusty. I couldn't help but ask myself the question: "If I had to get rear-ended, why couldn't it have been a Porsche or a Lamborghini?"

I looked back at the man's face again and felt guilty at my selfishness and pride. This man obviously didn't have a whole lot of money. I decided then and there that I would offer to pay for the damages. I prayed quickly and silently that the damages wouldn't be too costly.

When we both inspected the back of my vehicle, we were astonished to see that there was neither dint nor scratch. We looked at each other in shocked disbelief and then inspected my vehicle again, this time a litte more closely. Nope, there was no damage in the least. We couldn't understand it. His truck had hit me hard, but there was absolutely no evidence of it.

I tried not to rationalize it by remembering that God works above our rational thinking. I whispered a prayer, "Thank you God," and then turned to the man and said, "You're free to go. Have a nice day." The man apologized again, but I don't think I've ever seen as great a transformation on a person's face as I did at that moment. He went from misery to elation, leaving me with a memory I will never forget: the most gigantic smile ever!

My lesson learned. Don't be selfish or proud. Don't think of yourself (or your vehicle) as better than someone else (or someone else's).

"Don't be selfish;

don't try to impress others.

Be humble,

thinking of others as better than yourselves."

Philippians 2:3 (NLT)

Taste And See That God Is Good

Saturday night, Brian and I went to a Marble Slab Creamery to have a medium-sized dish of ice-cream. It was heavenly! I enjoyed the delicious treat because eating desserts is something I don't do very often.

I think one of most wonderful things one person can do for another is to take the person out for ice-cream once in a while. God must think so too because He was obviously there at the creamery with us revealing His sweetness. While I was standing in line looking at all the different flavours of ice-cream, contemplating through the difficult task of choosing which one to have, the woman next to me turned and asked if I wanted her extra coupon, which stated if I bought one medium sized ice-cream I would get a second one free. I immediately thought, "Wow!" and said, "Sure," and thanked her very much.

At that moment as I was standing there, amazed and joyful at this small blessing from a complete stranger, I sensed God's presence and saw His smiling face upon us. God is sure good! Taste and see!

"Taste and see that the Lord is good."

Psalm 34:8 (NIV)

Thank you God for your sweet goodness!

A Fish Hook In The Neck

Early yesterday morning, I went for a walk to my neigbourhood park and saw the tiniest goslings I have ever seen. They must have just been born. They looked like little yellow puff balls that were hardly distinguishable. They were so cute! It was just too bad I didn't have my camera with me so I could take a picture of them.

When I got back home, I ate lunch hurriedly for I had a mission in mind. I went back to the lake with my camera in hand hoping to see the goslings again. However, I was disappointed. The parents were visible but their babies weren't. The goslings were probably on the small island in the middle of the lake for protection against animals and people. I can understand why! As I was able to get a closer view of the parents, I saw the father goose with a fish hook stuck in his neck. I so was annoyed to think how people can be so careless or purposeful in hurting innocent wildlife. The lake is stocked regularly with trout, and people have the freedom to fish there, but someone obviously misused their freedom. When I got home, I immediately phoned the town hall and left a message on behalf of this poor goose. Hopefully a Conservation Officer on Monday will be able to remove the fish hook out of the goose's neck without causing him or his mate too much distress.

As I post these pictures, God speaks. Sometimes we as people get fish hooks thrown at us, whether carelessly or purposely, and sometimes these nasty fish hooks jab and stick into us. I know we have all been there and felt the injury of unkind words. But through the loving kindness of God and the ability to forgive through Him, God removes the fish hook so our wound can heal and our pain can end.

At the same time, we all need to be careful not to throw fish hooks at others by our insensitive or cruel words, because words can hurt, bite, devour, and destroy. We are called to live in freedom, but we are not to abuse our freedom. Instead, we must use it to serve one another in love. God has commanded us to love our neighbour as ourself, and one way we can do this is by watching the words we speak.

"For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters.

But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.

Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.

For the whole law can be summed up in this one command:

'Love your neighbour as yourself.'

But if you are always biting and devouring one another,

watch out!

Beware of destroying one another."

Galatians 5:13-15 (NLT)

Don't Uproot And Dump The Prayer

One of my most favourite plants that I had in BC was a Clematis. I loved seeing it bloom into purple flowers twice a year, early spring and late summer. So three years ago, just after I moved into my current house, which had an unfinished yard, the first perennial plant I bought was a Clematis. However, for the first three summers, there were no flowers, even though the plant looked healthy and was growing rapidly. So this spring, I contemplated digging the plant up, throwing it away, and getting another one. When I approached the non-flowering Clematis with a shovel in my hand, I thought, "I sure wish the plant was dead; it would make it easier for me to accomplish this murderous task." As I looked again at the Clematis with its multitude of green buds, my frustrations and disappointments seemed to disappear as hope set in once again. I decided I would give the plant another chance. I am sure glad I did. The Clematis is now loaded with beautiful purple blooms. I took a picture of it this morning.

In the Christian life, prayer is sometimes like that as well. We pray to God for a miracle with hope, eagerly waiting for the answer. When the answer doesn't come right away, we pray again, and hope some more. This can continue for what seems like an eternity, until we begin to loose hope and pray with less faith. Finally, we contemplate abandoning our belief that God is even going to answer our prayer. We give up, when in fact the answer to our prayer is just just around the corner, ready to bloom into beautiful blossoms. We never see the miracle because we discarded our prayer, ending it's power to see the answer fulfilled.

"Rejoice in our confident hope.

Be patient in trouble,

and keep on praying."

Romans 12:12 (NLT)

When there is prayer with hope, the life and power of that prayer continues even when the answer is not yet seen for years to come.

Chosen, Royal, Holy, And Peculiar

Hunter, my black Angora cat, is peculiar. She doesn't sleep like a normal cat, curled up in a ball. She always sleeps on her back with her legs sprawled out and her front paws curved. When I was about to take her picture, she turned her head to face the camera, but normally her head is facing upwards.

When I look at Hunter, I can't help but think how well she fits into our family. We are a peculiar family as well. Why? Because each of us is a Christian. We are different from others in the world who do not have God as their Lord and Saviour. In the Scriptures, God calls those who are His children "chosen," "royal," "holy," and, lastly, "peculiar."

"But ye are a chosen generation,

a royal priesthood,

a holy nation,

a peculiar people;

that ye should show forth the praises of Him

who hath called you out of darkness

into His marvellous light."

1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)

We are chosen because, once we accept Jesus Christ into our lives and love Him with all our hearts, God choses us to serve Him in various ways and ministries.

We are royal because we have been adopted by God as His sons and daughters, and are now part of His royal Kingdom.

We are holy because the death and resurrection of God's precious Son, Jesus, paid for all our sins, so that now when God looks upon us, He sees His Son in our hearts.

We are peculiar because we live by God's standards and are guided by His Word. We don't live by the world's standards and we're not guided by popular public opinions. We live for God and God alone, even if it means we'll be ridiculed or bullied by the world for our godly beliefs.

So if we are to describe ourselves as Christians: we are chosen, royal, holy, and peculiar.