I told you recently about receiving this little devotional book back again on my birthday after it being missing for over 50 years...
This morning I was needing a little bit of encouragement in my faith-walk, and I decided to pick this book up and randomly open it to see what God would say to me today, and this is what spoke to me from the page where I turned:
"Being in Christ puts taste into everything. It puts faith in our work, for we are doing it for Him; love into our labor, for we labor for Him Whom we love and steadfastness into our hope,
for we hope in Him."
"O Jesus, Lord, Thou art working a work of faith, laboring a labor of love, steadfastly hoping--give me Thy persisting, creative love. Thou dost not fail nor art Thou discouraged. Make me like that.
In Thy Name. Amen"
"Affirmation for the Day: I shall not fail nor be discouraged until I have set love in my situation."
In Christ, by E. Stanley Jones
I love how God knows exactly what we need, and can speak to me from pages found in a book that I had not seen for over 50 years. Perhaps it will be encouraging to you as well today.
And now for some other interesting and encouraging pictures...most of you who have followed me this past year will remember our Sand Hill Crane family and their youngster that I named "Colt" (because that is what a juvenile Sand Hill Crane is actually called, a "colt".) Anyway, they spent a good deal of time in our Still Waters Pond and also foraging around on our yard. They also would fly away for days and sometimes weeks at a time and we would not see them, and then all of a sudden they would fly back in as if they'd never left. 
We watched "Colt" from the time he was this small (above), until he was as big as his parents and it soon became difficult to tell which was which!
And then one day this past week (after the hurricane was over), only two cranes showed up in our yard:
Apparently the time has come for "Colt" to move on to his adult life and find a mate for himself, and his parents are returning here to their home to begin the ritual of mating again and hopefully setting up another nest out on our pond/island to bring the next new offspring into our world!
How do I know this? Well, as I was watching Mr. and Mrs. Crane walking around, they suddenly starting breaking into this dance they love to do when mating season has begun:
I should have taken a video, but it was happening so quickly I didn't have time. They start hopping up and down and flapping their wings at each other and just having a good old time!
I watched until they grew tired of the dance and went back to foraging for food again...but this will go on for a while until they settle back down on a new nest to begin the cycle of life all over again.
Although I miss seeing "Colt", we know he is off pursuing his own destiny and God's beautiful creation continues to do what He intended it to do:
"Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,"
Genesis 1:28
(of course that command was given to Adam and Eve, but apparently it was also intended for all of His creation, because that is what they've been doing ever since the beginning of their creation)Okay, that's the encouragement for today...
Even when we may feel a little down or discouraged, God has words of hope and love for us, and the beautiful cycle of life continues all around us. Let us have hope and faith and most of all,
LOVE, no matter what the world throws at us.
Amen.
