We have a hymn request from Erlene: In His Time. I can’t resist this beautiful video from Maranatha! Music–butterflies like living jewels: only one Master Craftsman could have shaped them. [Cold weather’s here, and I’m already missing them.]
Tag: God’s stuff
God’s Stuff: Pet Mice
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Mice can be found almost anywhere. Their high intelligence enables them to adapt to all sorts of unfamiliar conditions. And they make good pets, too. I’ve had many of them.
I used to take some of my mice downstairs, where I would lie down on the carpeted floor and release the mouse into the living room. I know, I know–what was I thinking? The mouse could have darted under the couch and somehow disappeared. But they never did.
Instead, the mouse would explore a little and then come scampering back to me. Always! Think about that. We humans never get to interact with living things that much bigger than ourselves. What must we look like, to a mouse? A blue whale with glasses?
Our creator also created mice–and for some reason, despite all our problems with wild mice, He created us to be compatible: pet mice can be very affectionate. For something that small to love and trust something that big–well, we never would have thought of it, would we?
I also had a mouse who used to groom my mustache. What that was like for her, I’ll never imagine.
Bonus Hymn: ‘For the Beauty of the Earth’
The sun has just peeked out today, and given us a beautiful fall landscape: all of it the work of God’s hands.
Evil news abounds. There’ll be plenty of it tomorrow. But here and now, let us enjoy God’s protection and praise Him for His work.
For the Beauty of the Earth, sung by Michelle Swift… old Sunday school favorite.
Nature: A Wolf Spider’s Babies
I have to confess to a touch of arachnophobia. But you have to admire the mother wolf spider’s care for her babies. Please honk if you have counted the babies. Imagine having to care for that many at once!
If a baby should fall off, the mother spider stops what she’d doing to look for it and get it back onto her back. You have to admire that.
This is Mr. Nature with a little bit of God’s stuff–a spider that parents like a mammal. Be kind: these spiders eat nothing but bugs that we’d just as soon be rid of.
Why Do Bees Sting?
It’s damp and overcast again today, but that hasn’t stopped the bees. Here the bumblebees are out in force, busy with our bumper crop of wildflowers. And I know one or two persons who think the bees are out to get them and it quite unsettles them. They’re afraid of getting stung.
But bees don’t sting out of mere cussedness, although I’ve known wasps to sting for no apparent reason. Bees, though, die when they sting; and that deprives the hive of a worker. So they only sting when they think they have to.
Naturally, bees will sting to defend their hive and their queen. They’ll also sting if you actively molest them, or if they get attracted to bright clothing and somehow get caught in your shirt: it’s self-defense.
I’ve got bees all around me when I sit outside to write. This time of year, we have a lot of flowers and thus a multitude of bees. But I’ve never been stung. Why should I be? Bumblebees, honeybees, and little native bees abound here. I like watching them.
Where I grew up, on the other side of town, the wasps and yellowjackets would sting you just for the halibut. But I’ve been here forty-plus years and never been stung.
For the most part, it’s simple: don’t bother the bees, and they won’t bother you.
Finally… Sunshine!
Yesterday it felt like it was just going to keep on raining forever, here in New Jersey–buckets and buckets of it, starting last Friday. Or was it Thursday? Anyway, it was an awful lot of rain, under dark and dreary skies. It had to have been at least ten inches of rain.
But today it’s finally sunny, I got to write outside. Stands of white wildflowers have sprung up all around the yard and the bees were out in force today–bumblebees, honeybees, and the little native bees–collecting nectar and spreading pollen.
We often take these things for granted; but it’d be wiser and happier to appreciate their beauty. We have so many wildflowers here! In all different colors.
Remember to thank God for his handiwork. He didn’t have to create beauty. But He did… and that should tell us something.
God’s Stuff: Dayflower
Botany is not something I know a lot about; but I enjoy the little blue flowers that have spring up all around our apartment. If I’ve chosen the right picture, they’re called “dayflowers.”
We haven’t planted anything this year, but the birds and the bees and the ants have been busy dropping seeds and we have a bumper crop of wildflowers. Their color is simply gorgeous.
God pronounced His Creation “very good,” and it shouldn’t be hard for us to see why. He has filled the world with beauty. It nourishes our souls. It points our eyes to our Creator.
And if I’ve misidentified these flowers, it doesn’t detract a bit from the beauty that God gave them.
Animals’ Minds
Do you ever wonder what goes on in the minds of domesticated animals? It must be very different from the mental landscapes of wild animals. I mean, I had an iguana whose best friends were all mammals. He used to cuddle up on the bed, on cold days, with a dog and a cat. But the other cat he would chase out of the room… because she liked to poop in the bed. I was grateful to him for that.
So we see all these videos featuring animals, assorted pets, acting like nothing you’d expect–and I can’t help but wonder, is God trying to show us something? I think He is. When you see a cat or a dog nestling with a band of chicks or ducklings–instead of eating them!–you just have to wonder how such a thing can be.
If animals can get along together, why can’t we?
Why Did God Create That Planet?
After thousands of years of admiring it shining in the night sky, we can now see that if the planet Jupiter were not where it is, and were not as mind-boggling large as it is, our own planet would be uninhabitable–a shooting gallery for comets and meteors that get routinely deflected from Earth by Jupiter being in the way. Chalk one up for God’s providence.
But now… what about Neptune? Many times the size of Earth, billions of miles from the sun, apparently locked in perpetually violent storms–what’s with that? Which of God’s purposes does that world serve? As yet we have no idea at all.
Someday we may be able to study other solar systems as closely as we study our own (which is nowhere near as closely as we’d like!). Maybe then we’ll begin to develop understanding.
God’s Creation is more than rich enough to keep us busy.
Really Scary Predators! Land Crocodiles
The dinosaurs were long gone, it was the Age of Mammals… but these huge reptilian predators didn’t know that.
Mr. Nature here, with a bunch of mostly obscure prehistoric predators related to today’s alligators and crocodiles. The video will hit you with enough scientific names to have you talking to yourself, but at least it’s full of cool pictures. And all you need to know, really, is that “suchus”–which is part of most of those names–means “crocodile.”
I wonder when these monsters will turn up in Lintum Forest!
What I see here is not “evolution,” but rather God’s infinite creative power. We don’t know very much about Dentaneosuchus, et al, but we do have some fossil evidence–enough to convince us that this would have been a very good animal to avoid. Their remains have been found in Europe, Africa, and South America.
Why aren’t they still here? The LORD has not given us an explanation. He has the entire universe at His disposal, So who knows, there might be some of these in places where we’ll never go.
Meanwhile, we can stand in awe of God’s handiwork.