April 24 2018 – Click here to listen
Our little dog Coopie is getting old. He sleeps most of the time and when he arises he yawns and goes through an elaborate stretching process before he can take his first step and get going. He seems to be in a good mood all the time and whenever he sees anyone enter a room his tail begins wagging like a windshield wiper and he ambles over to greet them. He has an idyllic life. He eats and sleeps and worries about nothing.
Coopie genuinely loves us and even refuses to eat for several days when we have to leave him for any extended amount of time. Often in the morning when I’m writing Words for the Day he will come into my office and stand on his hind legs with his front paws on my leg until I stop what I’m doing and pick him up. He stares into my eyes holding his ears back while I pet him, and I can see the love flowing from his big brown eyes. Then he will curl up in my lap and I have to finish Words for the Day with him sleeping away in my lap.
I’m really glad that God created animals. They are a constant reminder to me of Him and His loving spirit. I’m not just talking about domesticated animals either. Yesterday a reader sent me the following story about a whale:
“If you saw a recent front-page story of the San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale that had become entangled in a spider’s web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, and she was tugging a line wrapped around her mouth.
A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so badly off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.
When she was free, the divers said she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as though she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the entire time, and he will never be the same.
May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.”
I cannot speak for you, but this reminds me of God freeing me from so many tangles that were weighting me down in my life. In fact, it seems that He no sooner untangles me from one mess, that He has to untangle me from another. I for one am very appreciative of his mercy and compassion and throughout each and every day of my life I begin each prayer by thanking Him for His enduring love for me and I list blessing after blessing.
All of creation is a testimony to God’s love. Deniers of God have no excuse because His love engulfs us and everywhere we look we see his loving majesty . . .
Romans 1:19
What may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made . . . so they are without excuse.