God's Wings

This story was sent to me by a friend.  I was so touched that I had to share with His Banner readers and my friends on Blog.

After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. Then the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast...because she had been willing to die, so those under the cover of her wings would live.

'He will cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you will find refuge.' (Psalm 91:4)
 

The Joys of Summer

“How sweet I roamed from field to field, and tasted all the summer's pride.”

~ William Blake

I cannot tell you how much I have loved my summer, how much I have always loved summer, but even more so this year.  Maybe, it’s because I have spent a great deal of time with my three-year-old grandson, looking at the world through his eyes, to marvel at how he sees our two acres as ‘Gamma’s park’, sharing his delight in picking berries or sweet corn from Grandpa’s garden, lying in the grass looking up at the clouds, riding around the yard in Gamma’s Amigo, watching the excitement dance in his eyes as I let him make turns (with lots of help from Grandma, of course.)

 

.All the games we’ve played and the snacks we’ve consumed, counting out the animal crackers one by one, enjoying an ice cream cone on a hot summer day and lets not forget our trips to McDonald land.  To view summer through a child’s eyes is absolutely the best, because, the sun shines forever through a child’s eyes.

 

O where O where has my sweet summer gone? It seems the minute it arrives – its ending is near.  O how I shall miss the hazy lazy days of summer. “But wait, Gamma, do you know where my gloves and boots are?”  God knows when to end one season and start another!

 

~William Blake:  “To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour.”

 William Blake quotes (English visionary, Poet, Painter and Engraver. 1757-1827)