Monday, July 9, 2012

"How Many Times Can She Jump??"

Today I was watching out my window at something I hadn't seen before. It was a Mother squirrel and her baby, about 15 feet up in a tree. I've seen squirrels plenty of times in our trees, but what she was doing caught my attention.

We have three trees relatively close to one another and the squirrels often hop from one tree to the next with such ease. They have such TRUST that they will land safely on the other side. It would appear, at times, that they look like they are literally flying! As I was watching, I began to notice the Mother was repeatedly jumping to the same tree....over and over again. She almost always would run down the tree jumped to, land on our shed, and back up once again to do the same thing again. As she would run up the tree, she would always find her baby and hug him as if to communicate with him. And then as she coaxed him to follow along, she would jump into the air landing on the next tree. The baby would only go so far and stop. You could see he was clearly hesitant, fearful and not trusting himself to make the jump. Annnd once again....Mother would travel back up the tree to begin again. She was patient. She was loving. She knew the best way. And yet the baby would not follow.

Finally, because of exhaustion and not knowing what else to do, the Mother decided to safely lead her baby down the tree, across the shed, and up the next tree. She always made sure he was with her, and when he seemed lost she would go back and reassure him once more.
At last....success! They reached their destination!
And they lived happily ever after!
The End.

Nice squirrel story huh!

But like so many times, as I was sitting there watching them, I began to wonder if there was a Blog in this episode. And I believe there is! :) Through this I believe God is sharing this one simple fact - -God is in control and His will will be done. This Mother squirrel knew she had a will and that was to get her baby safely transferred to the next tree, and NOTHING was going to stop her, not even her baby's doubts, fears, and mistrust. God also has a will, a plan, for our lives and NOTHING is going to deter, stop, or hinder His plans from being done! I believe there are many people who have the thought process that it's all about their own choices and decisions they have made as to whether or not God's will is being done. This baby squirrel clearly chose not to follow his Mother's leading to go as she was showing. But that didn't stop her plan from being done. It only served to make the journey longer instead of the shorter, straighter path they could've traveled.

I know that God is in sovereign control over every single part of our daily lives. His ways, His thoughts, even His plans seem unfamiliar to us at times. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways." Isaiah 55:8. But we can trust Him still for it says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. I do believe that our choices can make the journey longer and keep us from enjoying all the many blessings God has for us. But, I also believe that God allows us to delay the journey to sharpen us, strengthen us, and mold us into more of the person He is creating us to be. In saying all of this, and hopefully in not too many words, there are times in life when we triumphantly "jump" from point A to point B in God's plans, trusting as He leads us. But, there is also those times that we stand fearfully, doubting, not trusting looking over the edge of the limb saying "God, I can't do this." As we do, He quietly continues to lead, wait, love and reassure. And sometimes, He allows us to travel the longer path taking us rather from point A, to point A 1/2, and finally to point B. All the while reassuring us of His love, "Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall." Psalm 56:22. Also, "When I am afraid, I will trust in you." Psalm 56:3.

Friend, if God has taken you to it - He will bring you through it. God sees our tomorrows before they are our todays. Trust Him. God can keep us from bad decisions and choices - but He uses them to make us into the beautiful person He designed us to be. So KNOW.....no matter what ------ God's will WILL be done. Not you, not me, not satan, not ANYONE can stop it.
And.....He will get you safely to the other side. : )

Happy Jumping!!




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