Combing your Feathers?

Recently we came upon this beautiful heron posed on a branch of a tree beside the road.  He remained long enough for my husband to capture some excellent photos.
In downloading the images I realized I didn't know much about the Blue Heron and did a bit of research.

Once again what I learned reminded me that no matter where we look we are confronted with the unmistakable fingerprint of God's  goodness, wisdom and creativity in nature.
To Him be all the praise and glory !

The Blue Heron is well equipped to take care of its grooming needs to stay looking photo-perfect!  Feathers need to be put into place and carefully groomed and cleaned. 
But how ?

He comes equipped with his very own comb and cleaning powder.

The Blue Heron has what is called Pectinate Toes. The center toe on each leg is longer than the other two toes and has along the side ridges that function like our toothed combs.
This 'comb' is perfect for arranging and preening his feathers, but simply preening is not enough.
The Blue Heron's love of fishing has the consequence of his feather getting rather grimy and he needs a way to clean them.

Falling  over across his chest the Heron has feathers that are uniquely different from his other feathers.   The feathers on his chest  grow continually and fragment - becoming almost like 'hair' , and they act like a 'washcloth' to clean his toes and also produce a cleansing and protective powder for his grimy feathers. 

A quote from the Cornell Lab of Omithology says .. "Great Blue Herons have specialized feathers on their chest that continually grow and fray. The herons comb this 'powder down' with a fringed claw their middle toes, using the down like a washcloth to remove fish slime and other oils from their feathers as they preen. Applying this powder to their underparts protects their feathers against the slime and oils of swamps."  

Isn't that amazing?
If God has so uniquely provided for the needs of the Blue Heron, how much more will He provide for our every need !

Philippians 4:19 "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

 Note that God does not meet our needs according to what we see around us, or what the world could possibly provide for us   -   no, God provides out of His riches in glory !!

  I don't think His bank account is ever in need of funds , do you ? 

Israel and the Olive Tree

When God inspired men to write down His words in what we call the Bible there is never a word wasted, never a word untrue, never anything scientifically in error, never anything fictitious.
I continually learn new details about something I did not know before that reveals yet  again God's infinite wisdom and attention to detail.
Recently, I learned some very interesting facts about the farming of olive trees in Bible times that support  Paul's analogy using the olive tree to illustrate the relationship between Israel and the Gentiles as God's people. 
This analogy is found in Romans 11:2-25.

The following characteristics of the Olive tree make this passage deepen in meaning and enlighten our understanding in its application.

1.  An olive tree can lose its fruitfulness and become unhealthy. 
A farmer watched carefully over the health of his olive trees , to maintain their ability to yield a good  crop of olives.
So also God watched Israel blessing them, caring for them, wooing them to Himself  but they became wayward and rebellious ... finally, He declared them hopelessly 'unfruitful' .. He says .. "All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people." (Rom. 10:21) 

2. Save the tree, don't destroy it ! 
A farmer with limited time and space was not willing to just cut down the unproductive olive tree. He desired to save it .
So also God, was not willing to totally reject Israel and start over ..  In Rom. 11:1 Paul declares .. "Has God cast away His people?  Certainly NOT !"

3. Grafting restores the life of the tree . 
The olive tree farmer knew he could bring back the health of a suffering olive tree by grafting in branches from the wild olive tree.   NOTE - The olive tree is the only plant where the wild is grafted into the cultured - in every other plant grafting it is always the other way around, the cultured grafted into the wild. 
Paul's analogy could  fall apart except for this unique fact about the olive tree.   The cultured tree was Israel, the chosen people of God, 'cultured' in God's vineyard.  But in God's plan the Gentiles - the wild olive tree - would be grafted into the cultured olive tree of Israel - so God created the olive tree with this unique characteristic. His foreknew how important this little detail would be to Paul's analogy. 
The work of grafting involved the farmer cutting off some of the branches of the cultured olive tree. He would then cut branches off the wild olive tree and graft them onto the cultured tree where the branches had been cut off the cultured tree. 

4.   Keep the cut off branches. 
When the farmer cut off the cultured branches he would lay them down at the bottom of the tree. 
  For three and a half years the cultured olive tree would force its sap up into the newly grafted in wild olive tree branches...  Then, after that time, he would bore holes into the grafted branches and graft back in the 'dead' olive tree branches that had been lying on the ground for 3 1/2 years.   These branches came back to life and become 'jealous' fighting for their share of the sap.
 The now healthy tree brings forth an abundance of fruit ! 

Isn't that the neatest picture of what Paul talks about ?  How the 'fall' (to the ground)  of the original olive tree branches  is not meant as their rejection ...but that these 'dead' branches will again be grafted in and come back to life. 
Paul even refers to the horticultural fact that these grafted back in branches will be provoked to jealousy, recognizing what they have lost and desire to once again to become fruitful in God's kingdom. 

The careful 'grafting' produced  a 'healthy tree'  of both Jew and Gentile. bringing the two into one so that "all Israel will be saved".  The olive tree (Israel) restored to health and life by the grafting in of the wild olive branches (Gentiles) fulfilling God's plan  that the ONE people of God  would "preach the everlasting gospel to those who dwell on the earth - to every nation, tribe , tongue, and people !"  (Rev. 14:6) 

Love DOES Make the World Go Round !

I was to give a short devotional talk at our Special Events morning - a love themed Non-Birthday party - and as I was considering what to say  the Lord dropped the above visual into my mind.  

February is the 'love' month -- and we are all familiar with the saying "Love makes the world go round"   and we smile.  But it is literally true !  

Our God IS love, and in His love He spun the earth on its axis when He created our universe.

When my granddaughter was four years old, she was one of the youngest in her kindergarten class.  Even at that young age , friends were her goal .. the more the merrier ! 

There was a girl named Sherry in her class and this girl for some reason rejected my granddaughter from her 'inner circle'.   It hurt my granddaughter's feelings but she was determined to win this girl over.   Every time I saw her she would tell me about Sherry and how she needed to be her friend, but Sherry would not play with her. 
She would phone me and say , "Nanna, we have to pray for Sherry..." 
She would spend time and care to draw her a special picture.  Or she would offer Sherry the treat in her lunch....  She even asked her Mom if she could buy Sherry a gift and in the store she ever so carefully examined everything to find just the right thing --  but over and over her gestures were turned away..  She tried everything her little self could think of and she became more and more troubled and burdened for this girl .
One day I was at her house and she again talked about Sherry and then asked ... "What is that called when someone, someone ... is ...  "and she fumbled for the right word.   I tried to help... " when someone is sad?   depressed?   upset?"  "no ... no ...  when someone has a broken .. " 
"Oh .. "I said , "you mean a broken spirit?"   I knew she was too young to know what that was, but she grabbed onto it and declared .. "Yes, that is what it is, Sherry has a broken spirit!  We have to pray for her broken spirit , Nanna."
She never gave up but at the end of the school year, nothing had changed. My grandmother heart ached for my little granddaughter because I saw how much pain it caused her to not be able to win this girl for her friend.
My granddaughter is now half-way through a 5 year program to become a Music Therapist. She will be reaching out to the disabled, the handicapped , the challenged and yes, those who have broken spirits.

I have often thought about how deeply my granddaughter felt the pain caused by the rejection of her  offers of friendship and I can not help but think it is a picture of how God feels when He is pushed aside by His children.
We easily repeat John 3:16 and think about God seeking to save the lost ... and of course He does - He does not want anyone to perish.   But ,  I think His deepest pain is when it is His own children that He cannot reach.
God longs for His children to spend time with Him... but too often we are too busy.

We live in a hectic, busy society where there are more distractions for our attention and time than ever before  and many days we focus on just getting through everything that crowds onto our to-do list!

 But think of a specially busy day where it seems what can go wrong does go wrong .. and then in the middle of that day, the phone rings and its someone with an emergency who needs your help.  Would you not drop everything and rush out to help?
Someone has wisely said that we always have time for the most important thing.
What if we made spending time with the Lord so important that everything else could be dropped or put on hold? 
George Muller discovered a secret ...  He said the more he had to do in a day, the more time he had to  spent in prayer just so he could get it all done!

If I am making you feel guilty,  that is not my intent.   I want to melt your heart to respond to the longing of our Lord's heart to spend time with His children.

I love the story of the prodigal son.   When he had been away from his Father and then finally decided to come home, he was ready to grovel in guilt at his father's feet... but what did the Father do?   He brushed his guilt aside and declared .. "I'm just so happy you are here!"

I found this beautiful poem online that so describes God's love for us... His children.

God’s love for me,

is unfathomable . . .

for, His love for me

is immeasurable.

 His love rises,

higher than the sky

it goes further than . . .

any space shuttle can fly.

God’s  love for me

is unbelievable . . .

for, His love for me

is undeniable.

His love goes deeper,

than the ocean’s floor

it goes further than . . .

any miner can dig for ore.

God’s love for me

is unexplainable . . .

for, His love for me

is unconceivable.

His love is wider,

than the whole universe

it goes further than . . .

any light the stars can disperse.

There’s nothing about me,

that is lovable . . .

yet, God’s love for me

is unstoppable!

Copyright 2018
Deborah Ann Belka

The Grinch stole Christmas?

We have all heard of the Grinch who stole Christmas and I have not talked to anyone who admits to being his friend.  He is rather universally recognized as the one who steals what we love about Christmas ...

Let me do a little play on words ... yes.. the Grinch steals the joy of Christmas but what if we allow a 'Grinch' to be our in-house guest all year round ?   And give him not only the joy of Christmas but also the joy of every day?

Who is this 'Grinch' ?  We know him by the name of Grudge.

We have all entertained grudges at some point in our life, I'm sure - but maybe you never realized what a destructive thief a grudge is.

Who doesn't love babies ?  They are such adorable little joy-givers - that one smile just melts your heart. Who can walk past a fresh-faced, wide-eyed baby in the grocery aisle and not smile and coo at them?
For those of us who are mothers we know all about carrying them for nine months, then bearing them -giving birth, then holding them close and nursing them  - giving them the nourishment they need to grow and flourish.

Now consider the key words in my comment about babies -- and see how we use all of them when we refer to grudges.

• we carry a grudge 
• we bear a grudge 
• we hold a grudge 
• we nurse a grudge 

What does that tell us ?  Think about when you first held your newborn.  It immediately captured your all-consuming attention and became a 24/7 focus and priority, did it not?   Everything else in your life was decided upon only after you considered how it would affect your baby. The child's well-fare - truly, his very life- depended on you. The responsibility was huge. 

Other needs became secondary to the needs of your child.  No penny spared, no effort too costly. 

And .... how many sleepless nights did you endure trying to pacify your restless child?   

Hmmmm ...   all too applicable to that 'grudge' we hold so dear, are they not?   

A grudge has a 'feel-good' aspect to it, because it makes us feel justified - we have been ill-done-by and we are entitled to being vindicated. We can't just let the offender think he did nothing wrong! 

Once we 'bear' a grudge, we hold it close and nurse it in our thoughts and through sleepless nights when we focus on the offence over and over and it grows as we nurse it. What we may not realize is that we can't really hide a grudge - just like the baby in the grocery aisle, our grudge shows where others can see it. 

Yet... what does it do for US?   Like the Christmas Grinch,  it steals our joy, it steals our peace, it steals our love and its steals our contentment and our thankful heart.

And most importantly of all, it steals our sweet relationship with the Lord.  

We read in James 3:9,  "Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!"   (the Greek word translated 'grumble' is also translated 'grudge'. )

Jesus also speaks to our human weakness to carry grudges. 

In Luke 6:37 He says ... "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

So often a grudge is based on a faulty judgement on our part and we withhold our forgiveness without just cause. 

Someone wise once said that if we walked in someone else's shoes we would probably do the same things they do. 

A person might offend us with a sharp remark or criticism but we are unaware that their day has been filled with unbearable pain. A person might respond or act in a way that wounds or angers us because it was totally uncalled for, inappropriate or extremely hurtful ... but if we really knew or understood what caused them to do what they did, would we judge them in the same way we did?  

We hold our children tight and are fiercely protective because we know no one else can or would care for them they way we can.  We feel the same way about our grudges. We feel if we let them go, justice will not be served, the guilty one will go free unpunished,  we will be left as the victim, paying the price,  and the guilty one rewarded. 

But we forget ....  letting go of a grudge sets US free and returns to us the 'good things' we let that grudge steal from us.   But we are not abandoning our 'baby' any more than a teen-aged mother who gifts her child to good adoptive parents.  No .. .when we 'give up' our grudge we surrender it to God who  will not only be our defender and healer  but will also make sure that righteous judgement prevails.  If I forgive someone's offense against me, I set myself free, but I do not set them free before God.   

Consider this ... do you want God to judge you according to what other people say or think about you?  Or would you prefer that He judge you according to how HE sees and understands you.  I know I prefer to stand before God without any accusers. Should I not extend that right to others as well?  When we let God judge those who have hurt us, He does not make the mistakes we make when we judge others. 

My Challenge --  Let us celebrate this Christmas season without any Grinches or Grudges in our home or heart.

****************

From my heart to yours --  

May you fully enjoy the blessings of Christmas and experience the love, hope, joy and peace our Savior's birth gifted to the world.  .