Corona Devo 3323

One of our neighborhood friends is amazing with plants and flowers and trees and landscaping.  We drive past his house just to see what he has done lately...and greatly.  Living plants are his thing, and a gifting that the Lord has definitely given him.  Luckily for us, he shares his gifts, and the other day he brought our family over some bouquets of flowers that he had grown.  The arrangements (and his heart in blessing us with them) were beautiful, and I guess it's been five days since he delivered the vases.

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.  ~Song of Solomon 2:12


The flowers, and the greens, and the foliage that he put together all caught my eye immediately, but as I took them in that first night...something else caught my eye too: a spider.

A small arachnid, (exactly the same hue as the ornamental beige grass tufting out of the arrangement), was parading around the tip of a stalk.  I saw a web, too.  He was at home in this flower arrangement that now sat on my kitchen counter.

At a first glance, I saw beautiful flowers, but at a second glance, I saw more:


The spider blended in for sure, until he pranced eloquently onto a non-beige background, and then I saw him very clearly.  

What should one do with a spider living in a gifted (and gorgeous) vase of flowers in one's kitchen? 

 

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
  
(17) Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 

(18) If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 

(19) Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 
(20) On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  ~Romans 12:13-20
 

Surprisingly (even to myself)...I did absolutely nothing about it.  I (purposely) didn't do a thing about the spider or to the spider.  

Initially it seemed complicated to consider how I might remove or kill him from the blooms, but then something else settled over my spirit, and that settled the matter: Live and let live.

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  ~Hebrews 12:14-15

When the flowers came five days ago, the spider was crawling around the blooms and grasses...and today, he marches amongst them still.

And why not?

~~~

What or who is under our skin today?  What's bothering us so much that we'd like to wipe it/them from the face of this earth, or at least from our general vicinity?

The Lord has a message for us today...and for our trust-in-Him today...and for our peace today: Let it go.

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.  ~Hebrews 12:15

Let (whatever it is that has some unhealthy control over our heart/thoughts/mood/or life)...let it go.  Let it be, and let's get on with our life.  

If it is God's will to remove it from our lives, He will.  God never misses His mark, but His timing is His timing...and not ours.

And until then: let's let it go today.

  • ...and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, (12) so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.  I Thessalonians 4:11-12 
  • Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. (15) See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.  ~Hebrews 12:14-15

~~~

...And do you know how much that spider has gotten-in-my-way and ruined-my-day since I left it be?
Not at all.

The truth is, days went by, and I enjoyed the flowers, but I had forgotten all about the eight-legged freeloader in my kitchen.  But when I looked (hard) for him: there he was.  Parading and prancing and doing-his-thing these past few days, while I-did-mine.

That's the amazing and ironic thing about control and pride and anger: when we let it go, it lets us go. 

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 
(6) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  ~Philippians 4:5-7

~~~

I will admit: the spider bothered me.  I didn't want him in my vicinity. 
But when I made-peace with the idea of leaving him in his element, and choosing to be at-peace in mine: it changed things.   
“Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you."  ~Job 22:21

As I looked at our kitchen-spider today, he no longer revolted me.  I saw the continued beauty in the flowers, but I had come to accept and realize that the spider was beautiful too.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.  ~Matthew 5:9

 

Blessings,

sarah 

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Corona Devo 1065

Image
It’s never too late to turn to the Lord.   And--it’s never too late to turn back to the Lord.   Do we GET IT?   King Hezekiah GOT IT.   The people in his area (Israel) had not been following the Lord, and they had fallen away from the (God-ordained) traditions that the Lord had designed to connect His people with Himself,  like going to church (Temple), and like celebrating the festival of Passover.  So they sent a proclamation throughout all Israel...inviting everyone to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the  Lord , the God of Israel. The people had not been celebrating it in great numbers as required in the Law ( 2 Chronicles 30:5). Hezekiah  invited the people back to church!  But how to get the word out? He  wrote letters of invitation to the people (2 Chronicles 30:1), but letters without delivery are dead messages.  Hezekiah needed to get the letters ... to God's people! At the king’s command, runners were...
Read more

Corona Devo 1063

Image
Ever been around boys (of any age)?  They don't concern themselves with talking about   other  boys...they are not (usually) comparative that way, and would prefer to be competitive instead.  They are often contented with jokes and sounds, rather than defaming other guys or discussing their shortfalls. But...ever been around women ( of any age )?  For some sinful reason, our conversations often seem to p ick-a-little, talk-a-little, pick some more and talk, talk, talk about other women.  We  simmer into a boil as we digress and regress into unbecoming chatter about   other  women.   It's a terrible habit and yet girls in elementary school don't need to be taught how and even elderly church biddies can't quite fully withdraw.  We all still fall to condemning others  from time to time.  We have this sinful draw to make ourselves feel good by chirping back and forth and making someone   else   feel bad. It's na...
Read more

Corona Devo 1064

Image
The earth is the   Lord ’s, and everything in it.   The world and all its people belong to him.   (2)  For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas  and built it on the ocean depths.   ~Psalm 24:1-2 We belong to Him, but also…our world belongs to Him: and  everything in it .   Everything.   Every tree and flower, every person, every pelican, everything. How are we responding to that glorious Truth today?   Can we praise Him today?  Can we acknowledge and absorb (and respond!) to the awesome Truth that we belong to Him :  the Creator of all things, and our Creator?   He laid the earth’s foundation ...and (even)  the earth  knows that it belongs to him ... Do we? Are we choosing to respond to Him today?   The trees do.    Looking out my window as I read these words of God, I saw these words  proven by God as n aked tree-branch arms were raised in praise of their Creat...
Read more