We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone. [Psalm 33:20-22 (NLT)]
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. [Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)]
While relaxing on the lanai and watching the sun set, we saw a pair of Muscovy ducks usher their little ones along the far side of the canal. Too far away for a photo, we just enjoyed another of God’s “Aha!” moments and commented on how blessed we are to be surrounded by His feathered creatures. We have a pair of fish crows tending to their newborns in the palms to our left and a pair of blue jays waiting for eggs to hatch in the palms to our right. Earlier that day, we’d watched a red-bellied woodpecker hammer away in a tree by the pool and witnessed a mockingbird “dive bomb” both a squirrel and crow who’d ventured too near her nest. Although the ducks were long gone, suddenly I felt compelled to grab my camera and walk down to the edge of the water. There, right in front of me was the duck family! I’d never seen those ducks on our canal before that evening and I’ve not seen them since. Had I remained on the lanai or been a few minutes earlier or later, I would never have seen them at all! God put me there at precisely the right moment—it seems He always has a few surprises up His heavenly sleeve.
Although I’d just composed yesterday’s devotion about trusting God’s timing and knew the words I’d written to be true, I’m not so sure I really believed them deep in my heart. I was still troubled by His delay. Just to make sure I truly understood and believed the words I’d just penned that morning, God blessed me with the ducks that evening. It was His way of reminding me that He knows what He’s doing. Indeed, while unpredictable and rarely what we’ve planned, His timing is always impeccable!
Thank you, God, for always knowing what we lack and for providing us with it at exactly the moment we most need it. Thank you for your inspiration, encouragement, and the unexpected blessings of life.
Today, I thought again about that handful of dirt in the farmer’s hand and remembered the creation story. God scooped up a handful of soil, breathed life into it and made man. I don’t care whether the words are figurative or literal or if they support the creationist or evolutionary points of view. All I know is that God made something out of nothing then and continues to do so now!
We’d taken my daughter and grand-daughter to a magic show and both my husband and grand had participated in two rather impressive illusions. On the way home, we three adults tried to figure out how each trick had been done. We explored various scenarios that might explain how the $50 bill with my husband’s signature on it ended up in the middle of an uncut orange, in a paper bag, and in a locked box that was in another locked box across the stage. We also tried to figure out how the magician used an elaborate series of mathematical calculations to know the age of our grand’s dog in dog years. (The dog, not there and being 105 in dog years, was most definitely not your average dog.) While we pondered various scenarios, my grand piped up, “Stop trying to figure it out. It was magic!” While it was an entertaining show, we know it wasn’t magic; it was just a carefully orchestrated and well-executed series of tricks. Nevertheless, we continued to want to know how each had been done. There is something about us all that wants to make sense of that which makes no sense. Sometimes, however, that can’t be done.
