Lessons from God’s Creation

The Sun is the Light Thereof

At the far end of the Grand Ha­ven lighthouse pier, I stood and listened to the sound of the waves lapping close to my feet. As I stood there, it oc­curred to me the only thing that allowed me to see where I was stand­ing and kept me from stepping into the churning waters was the moonlight. It was enough light to allow me to keep myself safely on the pier. If a cloud were to cover the moon while I was walking along the edge, I might blindly stumble into the waves.

The next day I was chatting on-line with a brother in China, by way of England, and we started talking about the moon and the intensity of the light reflected from the sun. If the sun represents Christ, what does the moon represent? After a few moments’ thought, the only conclusion one can make is that the moon represents the ecclesia. We have no light, no glory of our own but must reflect the glory from above, from our Lord. In the darkness which covers this world, we are God’s representatives and must reflect His glory.

The moonlight gives us just enough light to see where we are going, yet not enough to see perfectly. We must still rely on the Son for total guidance.

The ecclesia is like the moon in many ways; we, too, go through phases. Sometimes, we reflect no light. At those times we are out of sync with Christ. Other times, we burn brightly, radiating the glory of God and of Christ.

How wonderful it will be when the ecclesia, the moon, burns with the full intensity of the Son, the sun.

“Roll on the day when like stars appearing we will shine like the sun and there will be no more night.”

It took me a long time to get to the mailbox and back this morning. Almost every plant between here and there had something exciting to show me. Leaves are popping out on the shrubs, hostos are sending shoots out of the ground, and the forsythia looks like its blooms could explore like popcorn at any moment. The first lavender crocus has appeared, and the daffodils that I planted last fall are up and about to bloom. This all is an astonishment of riches.

Suddenly things are happening faster than I can keep up with, I am giving it a valiant effort. To walk out-side in my shirtsleeves and to see all of this spring vitality in action is wonderful. After six months of winter, this is our reward. Spring is a promise that has been kept.

During some of the harshest grips of winter, spring was almost as alien a concept to us as visiting Mars. Even though our knowledge assured us that it would come, it didn’t seem quite real, more like some lovely fantasy. But now look, here it is! A reality that can be smelled, heard, seen, and touched.

The coming kingdom is very much like that. After waiting and remembering the Father’s promises, it will be a reality and not just a wonderful dream. The dog will come when we will look at the marvels around us and see that the final and best promise has been kept. The kingdom has come.

For Several weeks we had been fighting the worsening effects of ankylosing spondylitis (spontaneous fusion of back verte­brae) when things took a turn for the worse. The vet’s prognosis was a maximum of two more months of life with increasing pain and discomfort.

At that point, we said, “No, this has gone far enough.” We loved the dog too much to let this continue, so we decided the vet should put the old fellow down. Our son and his wife and their two chil­dren were with us as we all said goodbye to Shane. We had a prayer over him to thank God for His great goodness to our family in allowing us the privilege of sharing the life of this lovely animal (truly intri­cately and wonderfully made!). Our son dug a hole under the walnut tree at the end of the garden, a place Shane had been accustomed to lie for some time, and we laid him to rest, tearfully.

Do we ever miss him!! That faithful “mutt” helped this family in ways that I cannot yet fully quantify. With no questions asked, he gave unreserved love to a teenage daughter, doing marvels for her self-esteem. Within 30 minutes of prayer that God might help her sort things out, Shane came to our door, having been dumped at the corner. His coming ended up contributing to her decision to be baptized some six weeks later.

There are memories of him running helter skelter after his “mum” with his tongue lolloping uncontrollably as he ran, his ears beating time to his running. There were the games he played; one trick he learned from another daughter in only one session of training – bringing in the newspa­per. He did it until his last week.

How can we forget the interaction between him and Misty, our cat (“Aunty Misty” to him, according to the chil­dren, as she was older and age has its privi­lege). At first, Shane was regally ignored, but gradually the persis­tence of his lovely social nature won even Misty to his circle of friends.

During all of this, I have figured out what the “bitterness of death” is caused by; it is an appreciation that death is the result of sin. These innocents suffer because of it, as all creation groans and tra­vails in the thrall. But, and here’s the great blessing for us all to consider, its days are numbered! The sons of the Deity will be manifested at judg­ment to sound the end of its effects for them and they, in turn, will give notice of its eventual abolishment from earth through the triumph of God’s great glory in us, and all of the immortalized saints of all time.

May it soon come!

Sunshine is scarce this time of the year When we do have a day of arm, glowing light, our part of the world pauses for a few moments of pure appreciation Our horse, Ginger, stands broadside to the sun, soak-mg up as much of the rays as her chestnut hide will hold The cats seek out golden puddles of sunlight on the floor for a warm nap.

I mostly just look around, and enjoy the transformation that light brings to common objects The colors of everything in our landscape come alive when the sun lightens and brightens the view The trees look vital again, and the clouds are a lovely accent for our skies and not just a gray barrier Absence does make the heart grow fonder When the longed-for sunshine comes back to us, we have a joyful reunion.

It seems that if we just substitute the word Son for sun, much of the inter­change would work We are m a dark period of mankind’s rule of the earth, we desperately need the cleansing warmth of the Son to make our earth vital and bright He has been awaited for a long time When he comes back to us, it will truly be a joyous reunion.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, Jam the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (John 8:12).