A Week of Wonder

It's been a week

of  wonder....

another 







We enjoyed time with friends at the zoo.  Did you know lion's mourn loss?  After hearing the strangest sound throughout the zoo, a zookeeper explained.... 

It was the lioness crying out.  Mourning.  The loss of her mate of almost 2 decades.  She lost him almost a year ago.  She remembers.

We've been blessed with our own new litter....a little early.  We've been bottle feeding 3 of them. 



Sadly, it wasn't until after we lost 2 of the 13 that I realized they were a bit premature and the smaller ones were having trouble.  This Mama dog mourned too.  She knew where I took the first lost puppy-without even seeing me sneak off with it.  The second, I showed her.  She 'cried' and tried to get to it.  Still, she knows we're helping her.  After feeding each baby, I give them over to Mama through the fence~she licks them off and cleans the messy little drinkers up.  Twice now, when I've been near finished feeding-she tries to get back in.  It's her way of telling me that's enough.  Then, she joins the babies again.  It's been very special.

So I wonder....I've heard it told that animals don't have souls so they don't go to heaven.  I don't know where this 'thought' comes from.  But I'd be willing to argue that this lion, my Mama dog, and other animals we've owned have very real feelings.  Some of the same feelings we have as humans.  Don't those come from a soul?  God gave man dominion over animals, that much we DO know.


(Speaking of Adam and Eve in the garden)
and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.  Genesis 1:28b

Obviously, the animal kingdom is not equal to humanity.  Sadly, many move to protect animals and plants more than the unborn child.  That would be on the Sanctity of Human Life...a topic so dear to my heart, that deserves a post all it's own.  But we do know, that animals are not our equal.  Common sense to me.  But for those who may need a little more assurance...

All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts.. 1 Corinthians 15:39a

That verse by the way, blows the evolution theory out of the water.  When being saddened over the loss of a puppy, it occurred to me that animals WILL indeed be in heaven!  I don't know who it was that embedded those bits of information into my mind, but they were wrong.  So I did what I do-I found the scriptures to prove it!

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat.  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.  Isaiah 65:25  (If you don't already know-the author is speaking of heaven)

Psalm 148 talks of ALL of creation praising the Lord....even the beasts, all cattle, creeping things, and flying fowl.           (verse 10)

That's my thumb this tiny pup has his paw up against!

At the end of the day, what matters is that God's creation is living testimony to His existence and care all around us.  The ability of a Mama dog to mourn for and want her lost puppy, the memory of a lioness mourning for a mate that was lost almost a year ago....it all points straight to the marvelous wonders of God.  We serve a God that is limited by NOTHING!  A God that loves us enough to leave living, breathing reminders of his wonder in every corner of the world.  Every corner of our lives.  Open your eyes today.  Open your heart.  Stop and see the wonder around you.  Know you are loved.  Loved by the Creator of All.  Saved by the grace offered on 2 beams of wood a couple of thousand years ago.

Grace... did you catch that tiny word?  Five letters.  One syllable.  Heard often.  Rarely understood.  This love is free.  You don't have to earn it, you don't have to be good enough.  Let me give you a hint.....don't even try to be.  You will never be good enough for our God, you never will deserve to be saved by the blood of His one son who came and lived in this dirty, broken world to save you.  You can do nothing that even begins to earn the forgiveness that came from that brutal, horrific, senseless execution. 

And you don't have to be.  God loves you any way.  He's known since before you were created that you wouldn't be (perfect).  So quit trying to be.  Grace.  Free.  When you fully get that, you won't want to be perfect.  You'll instead be set free to embrace your calling.  To serve and to praise with exactly what God gave you!  He loves YOU....incomplete, imperfect, unworthy YOU.  I know because He saved and loves unworthy ME too!!!!  And incomplete, imperfect ME is loving being taught that beautiful is indeed imperfect.  Broken.  Weak.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  2 Corinthians 12:9

I own my weaknesses, embrace my imperfections, and thank God that Jesus was perfect so I don't have to be.  I don't want to be.  And I'll chase the enemy away with scripture and prayer every time he tries to convince me otherwise.  Will you do the same?

I hope your week is full of wonder. 

 

 Or rather....I hope you take

 

 the chance to stop and see the wonder

 

filling up the life around you!  Know

 

 Jesus loves you!