Celebrate Life

         

photo courtesy of Pixabay

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. ~Psalms 139:14 KJV

A friend of mine posted a picture this week of a swan walking around Lake Junaluska, NC. Its majestic swagger was evident even in a still photo. I wondered if he was looking for a mate or a place to show her for a nest. 

I follow the Wonderfilled Days blog, though I no longer teach or homeschool or even have children at home, I love reading her explorations and connections to children's literature. Part of her email this week was about The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. She brought to the reader's attention that at the end of most chapters Sam, posed a question, a thought provoking question. 

    "I don't know of anything in the entire world more wonderful to look at than a nest with eggs in it. An egg because it contains life is the most perfect thing there is. It is beautiful and mysterious. An egg is a finer thing than a tennis ball or a cake of soap. A tennis ball will always be just a tennis ball. A cake of soap will always be just a cake of soap until it gets so small nobody wants it and they throw it away, an egg will someday be a living creature."

~The Trumpet of the Swan

We value so many things, our grandmother's china cabinet, or our dad's '67 Mustang. We value the homerun baseball signed by our favorite player and the concert tickets from that special night but how valuable is a life? Tennis balls, fragrant soap, china, cars, signed balls, and tickets are just stuff, even those with memories attached are still just stuff but an egg, any egg is life itself. It will grow and transform into that beautiful cygnet, a bluebird, a salamander, or a platypus. Watching a mother robin tend her nest and seeing the newly hatched chicks is one of my favorite childhood memories. But these are not the only eggs that contain life. 

We may not be able to see the horse's egg or our dog's egg, or even a goat's egg but they all originate as an egg. Neither can we see the human egg inside the mother's womb but it is there growing with God forming the little person's every detail. He creates each human with love and a purpose. Whether there is only one child or twenty, whether the child is born into a family or adopted a child is still created with purpose and loved by God. 

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. ~Psalms 128:3-5

So much is happening to destroy the lives of our children physically, mentally, and spiritually. The swan builds a nest six feet wide to lay her eggs and protect her cygnets. The cob (male swan) swims close by guarding her and the young. Like swans, we need strong homes with watchful fathers and mothers who "fuss" over our families.  I pray we watch carefully over our children from conception to their flight from our nests. 

Father, give us a new heart for children and families. Help us guard them against Satan's entanglements and create a home where the wonders of the Lord and His salvation are shared daily. In Jesus's name. Amen. 

Hey Kids: 

Have you read The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White? Perhaps you have had it read to you. 

Did you notice the questions Sam thought of each night? 

He wrote them in a journal by his bed and pondered them as he went to sleep each night.

When he wondered about eggs he also wondered how the bird knew how to build a nest. 

Take some time to go outside and watch as spring brings new life. Watch as the birds and insects and other animals prepare homes for new life. 

Create a journal for your observations and questions. Ask for help finding literature about your questions. Add quotes from the literature or Bible verses that support your observations and questions.

Wonder at the wonderful world God has created to for us to enjoy and teach us of His great love. 

Come and Eat

 

 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. ~John 21:12

I love birds; watching birds, listening to birds, reading about birds, and trying to photograph them with my phone camera (not very successful). The other day as I was out walking, I heard a bird song from my childhood. "Come and eaat! Come and eaaat!" I can only remember hearing it in back-off-the-road places in early spring and summer mornings. Funny how sounds can jog a memory and take you back sixty years.

My grandparents rented half of a shotgun house way back off the road. The house had no running water and barely any electricity. Their back stoop was a couple of rock slabs stacked for steps. We'd sit and talk or whittle or just sit and listen. I'd hear the little birds sing, "Come and eaat!" Grandma always kept the cookie jar full. There would always be the smell of potatoes boiling down dry, almost stuck in the butter. Chicken frying at her house always seemed to carry the invitation to come and eat. The trip to Grandma's was two doors down a path along a barbed-wire fence. Whether the snow was piling in over the top of my little cowboy boots or daffodils blooming along the path I knew there would be the invitation to come and eat. 

Our Heavenly Father extends the invitation to come and eat. All we have to do is turn off the TV, put down the phone and open up his word. He has a table spread. Knock and he'll open the door for you. Jesus invites us to come and dine. Taste and see that the Lord is good. 

My grandparents didn't have a TV. They didn't have a phone. But they opened the word of God daily and spoke to the Father regularly. They knew how to have company, make you feel at home,  without technology. 

I used a little technology today. I thought what bird is most commonly associated with spring? A robin? So I searched for the American Robin bird song.  After all these years I finally knew what bird was making that inviting sound. I had seen it in my yard all my life. I had heard it all my life. Is Jesus calling to you to come and eat? Has your Bible lain unopened all week, waiting for Sunday? Have you forgotten to open your heart in prayer?  Just like the robin still calls us to come and eat, so the Master still calls us to come and dine. 

Take time to open up God's word today and feast at the table He spreads for you, for us. 

Come and eat.

Father, help us quiet ourselves from the noises calling around us that we might hear Your voice calling to us to open Your word and feast on Your precious promises. Help us interact in prayer with the one who has the table spread. In Jesus's name. Amen.

Hey Kids: 

Have you read My Spring Robin by Anne Rockwell? A child searches for the robin she sees each spring until she hears the robin's song. 

There are lots of books about birds for children as young as four and as old as one hundred and four. There are also lots of ways to look for signs of spring. One of my favorite nature study websites is Wonder-filled days. 

Be amazed this spring with all the things God has made to remind us of what a good and gracious God his is.