Category Archives: Outdoor world

I made it myself!

Posted on by

Every parent has witnessed a child’s twinkling eyes as their 5 year-old approaches with her hands behind her back. “I have a surprise for you!” she says through a wide grin. “I made it myself!”

Focusing with laser intensity on her parents’ eyes with the hope of holding their gaze she says, “Are you ready?”

And out from hiding comes a painted plaster bird or a tin-foil ornament. Her parents oooh and aaah over the wonder of this creation, and the child smiles with a sense of ownership and pride. The fact that she is willing to give it away is true love indeed.

I wonder if God feels that way about all he’s made, from invisible atoms to immense stars. Master Creator that he is, he’s probably deeply attached to every piece of the universe as its Designer. He owns it all. And yet he’s given all of its parts to us in an expression of true love.

Last week I found myself walking through the glass-walled rooms of the Frederik Meijer Botanical Gardens, a wonderland of all things green and growing. Browsing through a maze of greenhouses, I felt like a child on a treasure hunt, searching for each wonder pictured in my brochure. Even the children’s garden dusted off the hidden kid in me.

Also fascinating was the people-parade, each person charmed by endless botanical wonders. The plants and flowers were a fascination to everyone from youngsters in strollers to oldsters in wheelchairs, who all chose this as their go-to place on a cool, overcast day.

I’d like to think they were there because God’s work is too spectacular to resist. Although Frederik Meijer was the benefactor of the greenhouses and acreage, God provided the filler. Without his broad array of happy plants, the whole venture would be lifeless.

Some Scriptures tell us God created with words alone, but I like to imagine him more involved, ingeniously designing everything from Azaleas to Zinnias. Might he have envisioned a bird not yet created while fashioning the Bird of Paradise? Or thought of Bethlehem as he shaped the first Star Fruit? Or pondered the food chain when putting together the Venus Fly Trap? Or sighed as he crafted the Bleeding Heart?

Surely he’s pleased as he watches people of all ages roam a garden bursting with his creativity, appreciating it as a living art gallery. But none of us need to buy entrance into a botanical garden to value what God has made. His artwork surrounds us, and there’s no better time than spring to express gratitude.

Thinking back to creation immediately after he’d made the world, God didn’t hide it behind his back but eagerly gave it away as soon as he’d made the first human being.  Might he have delivered it with a twinkle in his eye?

I’m sure of it.

God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours…” God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:29, 31)

Satisfying a Thirst

Posted on by

Jack and I love our daily ventures to Lake Michigan. The minute we get there, he flops down on his back, legs in the air, wriggling toward the heavens in a happy dance. It’s his canine way of praising God for creating the beach.

The second thing he does is jump into the creek where he gulps a tasty drink, but he’s not the only one. Paw prints in the wet sand prove how many others love the water: deer, rabbits, raccoons, seagulls, dogs and a fox. Adidas and Nike have been there, too, and my bare feet leave additional prints.

I don’t share Jack’s love of a “Creek Cocktail” but apparently the animals prefer that over clear, clean lake water. It’s nice to know local critters have an unlimited water supply, unlike animals living in deserts and other dry areas. Not even the biggest crowd could swallow up Lake Michigan.

All of us need water. We might choose to fast from food for over a month and survive (as Jesus did), but no one can fast from water. We need it daily.

I remember the newspaper account of a man afloat in Lake Michigan on a stalled jet ski. He drifted to where he couldn’t see the shoreline and hoped he would eventually be noticed by a passing boat. Unsure whether or not the lake was safe to drink, he went dry, quickly suffering dehydration. When he eventually drifted ashore several days later, he had nearly died of thirst.

Jesus referred to himself as a source of “living water,” water so life-sustaining we’d be foolish not to drink it. In conversation with a woman who was about to fill her earthen jar from a well, he offered to give her a sample of his supernatural water. She said that no water anywhere could be as good as the well water she was about to retrieve. But Jesus said, “If you realized the significance of what I was offering you and who was offering it, you’d eagerly take  it!” (John 4:10)

Thankfully, after two additional days of conversation with Jesus, the woman and many others from her village were able to grasp the incredible value of what he was willing to give, and they drank deeply of it.

Amazingly, Jesus’ water supply is still available to us today. Its benefits are eternal, and when we drink it once, we’ll never thirst for it again. The only requirement is that we bring an empty vessel and a willingness to believe he is who he says he is. After that, he’ll fill it till it overflows.

I’ve tasted this supernatural water, and it is, indeed, life-sustaining and thirst quenching.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13)

A “B Plan”

Posted on by

Just outside the front windows of our Illinois house was a small tree covered with springtime blossoms. One April day we noticed a bird’s nest tucked in its branches, topped with a mama blue jay. So we began bird-watching from a nearby window, checking every day for babies.

Our cat Kennedy was also watching, and several times I saw her stretching tall from the back of the couch, peering out at the mother bird. She had no interest in eggs, though, only what was inside them.

Kennedy had been a rescued kitten given to Hans on his 12th birthday, picked up while wandering across Chicago’s Kennedy Expressway. She was puppylike-friendly but morphed into a hunter every night, insisting on being let out as the rest of us went to bed. In the morning she’d often arrive with a gift, a dead mouse, chipmunk or small bunny dangling from her mouth. None of us liked this part of Kennedy but knew it was nature’s way.

Through the window, we worried about the baby blue jays but hoped their protective mama would keep Kennedy at bay. I remember the day the eggs hatched. We kept the cat indoors while several of us perched at the window to watch, but suddenly there she was, at the tree.

Hans bolted out the front door to grab her, but it was too late. She was already in the branches fighting with the mother blue jay, who appeared to be winning. Hans raced to the garage and reappeared with a board, shouting and swinging at his beloved pet, desperate to force her down. But within seconds it was all over, and Kennedy had had her way.

All of us were devastated, and my heart went out to the mama bird. She’d been faithful to her task, then was robbed of her reward. Although we were mad at Kennedy, we couldn’t blame her for doing what God had taught her to do.

Sometimes people-lives parallel that of mama blue jay. We meet our responsibilities, work hard and do the right things, but disaster strikes anyway. Money is diligently saved, then lost in a recession. A parent pours heart and soul into raising a child, who then turns against her/him. Someone leads a healthy lifestyle but gets sick anyway. A business is built on moral principles but goes bankrupt.

We usually can’t explain these misfortunes and wonder why bad things happen to good people, especially if “God is good.” But that’s where faith comes in. Do we really believe he’s good, and good to us? If so, we have to trust that even “bad” stuff has “good” purposes.

After Kennedy destroyed the mama blue jay’s future, I stayed at the window watching her. What would she do now? She sat on the porch railing nearby, focused on the tree, squawking intensely for about 5 minutes. Then she flew off in search of Plan B and never returned.

It’s often excruciating to surrender our A Plans. But when we’re ready, God’s B Plan is ready, too.

“The righteous… do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly.” (Psalm 112:6-8)