Courage & 9/11

Have you ever taken a few minutes to just contemplate courage? Spurred by an email reminder of the upcoming 20 year anniversary of the attacks on these United States on 9/11/2001, I have been contemplating the word courage. There were many examples of courage on that day but today I am thinking especially of one who, spurred by that terrible tragedy, exemplified courage.

There are so many small examples of courage here on the farm. The courage of a mother hen when she perceives that something is threatening her baby chick. The courage of her rooster as he defends the flock against a perceived danger such as myself coming into the chicken yard.

The courage of my loyal dog who is willing to take on even a vehicle that is many times his size to defend his people. The courage of the young, heading out into the big, sometimes scary, world to accomplish their dreams and goals.

This mornings discovery of courage was of a young man, former NFL player Patrick Daniel Tillman Jr., who, in the wake of 9/11 left his football career playing for the Arizona Cardinals and enlisted in the United States Army. “On April 22, 2004 … during their movement through the canyon road, (in Afghanistan) …he was fatally shot.” What a tragedy, what courage, to leave the comforts of home and career to go out in defense of liberty, even to the point of giving up his life for this cause.

I am reminded of some examples of courage I’ve read in the scriptures. Moses, lead the Israelites out of Egypt through God’s power and protection (Exodus 6:2-8). Joshua then took over this great task when Moses was laid to rest and the Lord said to him “Only be strong and very courageous…I will not leave you or forsake you” Joshua 1: 5-7. Over and over there are examples of courage in the scriptures, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jesus and the apostles. Many times they faced trying circumstances with courage.

Throughout history we have been witnesses of courage by men and women who, when trials came, instead of turning and running, they stayed to stand up for the good and the right. Sometimes this courage shows itself in big ways for great causes like the abolition of slavery or the right of women to vote. Sometimes it shows up in smaller but none the less important ways such as standing up for a friend who is being bullied in the school yard.

Hmmm… I know I will be contemplating this for a while… Have I ever been courageous? How can I model this thing we call courage to my children? How can I keep from forgetting the courage of those who’ve gone before me? “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the ^[a]author and ^[b]finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God..” Hebrews 12: 1-2

Biblical Inspiration in Spring Blossoms

Today I enjoyed a tour around my front yard enjoying the blossoms that are thriving there.  It made me think of a couple of Bible verses that have always comforted me, but in these crazy, unprecedented times mean all the more.

The first was, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night, shall not cease.”  Genesis 8:22  As you may remember, God made this promise to Noah soon after he and his family came out of the ark after the flood that had covered and destroyed the entire earth.  With some people looking around our world today and wondering if it will ever be back to “normal” this verse seems just as much needed as it must have been for the patriarch Noah.

The second verse that came to mind so readily while I enjoyed my front yard blossoms was, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin, yet I say to you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Matthew 6:28-30.  Now it was the flowers that brought this verse to mind, but more than flowers, as I go to the grocery store and look for nonexistent toilet paper or flour or mushroom soup etc. I can be sure that God has not forgotten my family or yours.  He knows our needs and will provide.

I hope that these short thoughts and pictures can encourage you as they have encouraged me today.

God bless and stay well!

New Years Thoughts

Sunflowers, roses & thorns, sunsets, blue skies & rain, time changes things and in the midst of the good in life there is bound to be some bad but God makes everything beautiful in it’s time Ecclesiastes 3:11.

As the new year is fast approaching my thoughts turn in review to the year just past.  There have been many good and some bad things that I can remember.  Some of the good things include projects finished, trips taken, memories made, family and friends loved and quiet moments.  My mind also reviews some of the bad things the year has brought for myself and others I know and I question.  How do you still have passion and joy when your child walks away from the most important things you have tried to teach them? Or when your husband or wife is unfaithful? Or a close family member or friend dies? Or when your health deteriorates?

In life’s bad times I have discovered that God is my source of strength, my ever present help in trouble therefore I will not fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Psalm 46:1 What does that mean? Does it mean I am not sad or angry when bad things happen? Does it mean I deny my feelings and pretend nothing has happened, or bury my head in the sand? NO, it means when bad things happen, and they will, I have a source of strength. I have a place to run to like a child running to their daddy when they skin their knee or their friend is mean to them. My God has me by the hand Isaiah 41:13 and through life’s troubles He is never far away.

When I was a child and would come home from school on a day when the other students had been making fun of me or I felt my friends had betrayed me, I would sit on my daddy’s lap and cry.  Now I know that not everyone is blessed enough to have a daddy to sit on but one of my blessings was a dad that would hold me and even cry with me when I cried.  Even now, as an older adult, I visualize God as being kind of like my dad.  He is willing to hold and comfort you when you need to have a good cry.  He loves you with an everlasting love Jeremiah 31:3 and wants to be your strength.

As this old year ends and a new year begins my prayer for all of you is that you too will find a refuge, a comfort, a place to find peace in God and that you will have a blessed year!