Grief

I am grieving for Jennifer Palmer. Her physical body died this morning and I am so grieved for this loss for her family and friends. She is a complete stranger to me but I was drawn to her story through the blogging community. I have been allowed to, in some small way, be a part of her story. Her husband Mark so graciously and courageously kept her journey documented as he shared her pain and trial as well as the outpouring of love and prayers from their community and other believers who did not know them.

When I gain my composure I would like to blog about some of the things that their story taught me.... and I am sure will continue to teach me.

The Wonder Of It All

I was reading to the girls today from a little nature manual about the nest building skills of the paper wasp and the mud wasp. I became fascinated with the architectural ability of the paper wasp to not only chew up bits of wood and with its own chemistry and anatomy turn it to paper, but then, to build, with no blueprint or permit, an architectural marvel of hundreds of cells in which to lay its progeny.

As it always does, my mind began to ponder how such complexity and efficiency can come from such a thing so small, unassuming and disconnected from my everyday existence: a thing, to my vain thinking, inconsequential, and a pest to avoid because of its venom. It is so easy to misunderstand man's position in creation.

The paper wasp is the perfect builder...a good example for Kingdom Life. She builds her nest in a safe place and then remains with her young, caring for them. When they grow up, they help her form a colony and build and clean the nest creating more room for new paper wasps. Winter comes as a time of testing. Some wasps grow cold and die and others leave to set off alone. They seek shelter and endure the cold until warm weather resumes and they emerge from their hiding places as new mothers building their own nest to start a new colony.....Nature has so much to teach me.

I think the paper wasp (and most of Gods non-human creatures) is a sobering example from the Creator. God has deposited the miraculous in the most unlikely places.........this fascinates me.........humbles me. The older I get the more I respect the small things and see my need to slow down and observe the wonder of the unnoticed. I am not talking about watching it on the discovery channel either….but to go out and intentionally hear the flutter of dove wings and wonder what unseen insect is causing the blades of grass to sway as it passes.

A quote:

"If you speak of a fly, a gnat, a bee, your conversation will be a sort of demonstration of His power whose hand formed them: for the wisdom of the workman is commonly perceived in that which is of little size. He who has stretched out the heavens, and dug out the bottom of the sea, is also He who has pierced a passage through the sting of the bee for the injection of its poison." Basil, Bishop of Caesarea