OK.....I can do that too.....(I think).
Besides....God can speak out of short stories just as well through loooong ones.
Today I saw a situation that was both sad and pathetic and if not for God's great hand of provision - it could only end up heart wrenching. As David and I were driving to Huntsville for lunch, a mother duck, a daddy duck, and 3 or 4 baby ducks were crossing a very BUSY highway!! As they were, somehow thankfully all staying together, and God sparing any swerving cars, they made it only as far as a middle divider concrete barrier would allow them. It had to be God that got them that far! As we past them, I jumped up and turned around in my seat stretching to see them until I could no more. I mean just the major SHOCK of seeing a sight like that on a highway no less! I began praying for them right away for afterall who doesn't have a heart for God's creation in such dire distress?! The ONLY choice they could make was to turn around and go the same way they had got there.....crossing lanes of busy highway traffic. I do hope they made it safely back with God's gentle hand of guidance.
As I sit here and think of this picture in my mind, I see how it can relate to life so easily. I think of raising kids. We raise our children to think for themselves, to listen for and follow God's guidance, to make right decisions regarding life. I questioned David saying "WHAT were these ducks thinking? Where were they going? Couldn't they see it was a dead-end, no-go situation ahead of time?" His O so knowledgable reply, "Do ducks think??" I had to laugh on that one! :) Well, you most likly see where I'm going with THIS one. Do ducks OR kids think?? My answer 90% of the time....."NO." We, as parents, come to the day and time when we let go and watch our "ducks" blindly go forward all the while telling us they know what they are doing. It is in those times that we wait.....and wait.....and wait somemore for God's guiding hand to put the middle concrete barrier up in their lives. As he does, He turns them around gently leading them back to the safety of "home" - place of His will, His path, His purpose. Sometimes the way back, just as for those ducks out on the highway, can appear treacherous, scary and impossible.....but we know absolutely NOTHING is too impossible for God. "With man this is impossible, but not with God; ALL things are possible with God." Mark 10:27. I believe also that God can and at times does pick them up and literally place them where He wants them just as He could literally pick up these poor ducks and put them back in safety. But, I also have to believe that God, so perfect in His knowledge of what we need in life to mold us and shape us, will allow them to walk that path back home however dangerous it may seem. . . but NEVER alone. Maybe in other words.....we don't often understand the trials and errors our children go through, but we can ALWAYS trust their all loving, all knowing Father to be with them to see them through.
And not just our children apply to this situation!
We ourselves have been there. We blindly and unthinking go forward all the while seeming to believe that this is right. And if we were to come to that "middle barrier" and truly ask ourselves "Am I in the right place? Is this going anywhere good?" Our honest answer would be a very saddened "no." We adults make mistakes too and don't have life all pre-packaged up in a nice little neat bow. . . our kids need to know that. We are real. But just as sure as we are real, we make mistakes, we blindly set out on the wrong path - we have a loving Father who steps in and shows us the right one. :) God is so good! "He will call upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him/her." Psalms 91:15. Also - "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go." Isaiah 48:17. And leads us back He does! It is in those times of falling that often we used in an even greater way for Him upon returning as well! So have hope, my friend, God brings beauty from the ashes and blessings from failures. A good verse for anyone who has traveled a wrong path is to seek comfort from this >> "Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I AM doing a new thing!" Isaiah 43:18.
OK....so the word SHORT apparently is not in my vocabulary when it comes to writing, although the word has been applied to my physical stature more than once! Ah well. . . . :)
May God guide those little ducks and us, back to His place of safety and rest.
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