Sometimes I like to think of heaven and earth as one giant game of Red Rover, with Jesus calling our name so we can run over and join “Team God.”
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We found him in the backyard of our house when we were doing a final yard cleanup before our move—a huge brownish-black turtle burrowed deep in the overgrown grass where my box garden had once been, dehydrated and desperate. A reflection on thirsty turtles and living water…
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I know I’m not alone. My sister feels it. So do countless female friends—that constant strain of being a mom, a wife, a working professional, a child of God. That pressure to keep all the balls in the air even as we simultaneously learn to juggle. But… perhaps we’re exhausted because deep down we think we should be steering the wheel, not God. (Ouch.)
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If I’m sick, the rest of my family will steer clear and let me sleep, but not my cat. She’ll sit on my pillow and gently knead my head, purring loudly as though she alone can drive the illness away. My cat even looks at me differently when I’m sick, like she sees right through me and straight to the illness beneath my skin, like she’s some fierce guardian angel there to battle on my behalf with The Evil Flu or The Dreaded Sinus Infection. It’s both stinking cute and incredibly comforting. The love we have for animals—and our animal friends have for us—is a beautiful thing and, I’d argue, a biblical call. Who’s to say God doesn’t want us to love our animal neighbors just as we do fellow humans?
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We called it the “Gratitude Pumpkin,” and every member of our family was given a marker and instructed to write down anything they felt especially thankful for that year: Sunshine. Hugs. My pillow. Guess what’s on my shopping list this week? You’ve got it: another gratitude pumpkin.
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When I heard we’d be walking with lions on my mission trip a few years ago in Zimbabwe, I thought that meant we’d walk “near” the lions, or the lions would be on a leash, or maybe even in a caged-off area as the wild lions prowled around us. Nope. They meant walk with lions—as in me, two adult lions, the rest of my mission team, and two lion handlers. On faith and being scared.
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My small, scared voice rises up within me every time I read the Parable of the Soils: Am I good soil? I wonder if that’s the question we all ask ourselves. Can the word of God grow within me?
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Where is God during times of great pain, stress, and hardship? Right beside you. On learning to walk in his sandals.
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When we can come together with people like we do at a family dinner table, even a family as argument-prone as mine, and come away with our bonds still intact, we’re doing something right. We’re operating as God wishes. On getting along and Romans 12:18.
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