Answers to life can be found in everyday events.
Watching nature, watching people and watching animals interact with each other
provides some of the simplest solutions to life's biggest problems.
This became more apparent to me yesterday.
It caused me to ask myself, "How do I respond to the
storms in life?"
People run when it starts to rain. I love to walk in
it.
My wife, hates thunder. I love to stand on my front
porch and feel it. I grew up doing it and never really felt the fear many people
do when a bolt of lightening flashes and the windows rattle in my house.
I remember a religious sister telling how wonderful
the storm was the night before. "Oh, the power of God!" She proclaimed.
They have proven that the animal world senses far in
advance changes in the weather, earthquakes, tsunamis and approaching storms.
My dog, Ricky begins to shake long before the storm is
close enough to notice.
I was about to feed my three dogs yesterday and as
usual, I let them out in the yard first.
They weren't even off the deck when thunder rolled
across the skies and they did an immediate about face.
I have learned long ago that there is no sense forcing
them to remain there. They will accomplish nothing.
So, I placed their food in their bowls and called
Ricky into the kitchen. If he could have crawled any closer to the floor he'd be
a snake.
I thought he'd never eat, but he began to do so and I
walked away.
Phil shakes like one of those old electric football
games that vibrated the players across the field. So I expected nothing from
him.
Upon my return to the kitchen Ricky was just standing
there in place next to his bowl.
I always mix a little white meat chicken in his food.
He apparently was brave enough to eat some it right out of the dry food leaving
most everything else.
The thunder became louder and more frequent. The wind
caused a few branches to bang against the roof thus forcing him to abandon his
meal.
I urged him to go lie down and he did.
Then I watched Phil. Shaking like a wind up toy he
made his way across the tiled kitchen floor and stood over Ricky's bowl.
He ate all the remaining tiny pieces of chicken and a
few of the dry.
Normally, if Ricky was standing there, he wouldn't
dare come close.
But today, he took advantage of the storm.
In spite of his fear, he saw an opportunity to get
what he wanted. His desire for the prize outweighed his fear of the storm.
That's when it hit me. There was a powerful lesson in
it for me and I hope for you.
As humans we face all kinds of storms. They roll in
unannounced, pass through quickly or stay for much too long.
Sometimes we crawl into a corner or pull the blankets
of false security over our heads and shake and shiver praying it will all pass
so we can get on with life.
If you dare stick your head out for a moment you might
be surprised to discover there are people out there in the same storms doing
what they must do to get what they must have out of life.
Most storms are like those natural storms. Yes, there
is the reality of experiencing some damage or loss, but for the most part they
are all thunder and lightening putting on a show of God's magnificent power.
Isn't it time you decided to "Take Advantage of the
Storm?"
Bob
Perks 2believe@comcast.net
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
messages. HTML and plain text versions available.
The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.