Friday 20 February 2015

Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

I thought I would blog the letter I wrote after a lovely talk with one of my route calls. I posted it yesterday as I fought my way through wind and rain to the Hall.  Its impossible to park very near these days.

We had been talking about her and her family's concern about the suffering of animals.  It had been a real sunny spring-like morning, but with an ominous background to it, making for a wonderful light. I wrote:


Dear Joyce,

I thought I would type out the verses we read this morning, and the ones about the promises of the restoration of Paradise on earth.

The Bible message has been so hidden from us.

Genesis 1:29-31 tells us:

"Then God said: “Here I have given to you every seed-bearing plant that is on the entire earth and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. Let them serve as food for you.  And to every wild animal of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving on the earth in which there is life, I have given all green vegetation for food.” And it was so.  After that God saw everything he had made, and look! it was very good...."


It was very good. It was perfect.  Adam and Eve lived in Paradise.  Everything was ruled by the law of loving kindness. And nature was not "red in tooth and claw".  This was not a world full of the hunters and the hunted.

And, wonderfully, the Inspired Scriptures promise us a restoration of that Paradise state.   Isn't it what we pray for when we say the Lord's prayer and ask for God's will to be done on the earth?

For example, under the rule of God's Kingdom, which is a heavenly government, nature will no longer be "red in tooth and claw".  It will return to the peace of Paradise. 

Isaiah 11:6-9 promises us this:

"The wolf will reside for a while with the lamb, And with the young goat the leopard will lie down, And the calf and the lion and the fattened animal will all be together; And a little boy will lead them.   The cow and the bear will feed together, And their young will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the bull.   The nursing child will play over the lair of a cobra, And a weaned child will put his hand over the den of a poisonous snake.   They will not cause any harm Or any ruin in all my holy mountain, Because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah As the waters cover the sea."

The lion will eat straw, just like the bull.  The animals will have nothing to fear from us, or from each other.  We will have nothing to fear from them.

What human government could ever achieve that?

Jehovah is "the God of all comfort", and this is so comforting.    

A rescue for all the earthly creation - man and animal - is so close now.  It is what we are trying to tell you as we come to your doors.

Not one of Jehovah's promises has ever failed, or ever will.

Hope to see you next month!


love    Sue


Butterfly Mark called in for a coffee this afternoon.  Great to see him.  He is dealing with Silverfish and Firebrats at the moment.   I know silverfish - you used to find them a lot in old kitchens, especially dank basementy ones.    But I had never heard of Firebrats.  Apparently, they are a similar sort of thing, except that they love the heat and the dryness, and are found in bakeries and suchlike.

His visit reminded of our years on Planet Expat, when I don't think a day went past without people dropping in.  And we have both been thinking of that time because Mary is so ill.   She and Chuck were a big part of our expat lives.   They retired to Texas, we retired to South Coast England.  But when we lived in the same town we saw them all the time.  We visited the Barrier Reef together, many years ago. They went diving in the Maldives with Captain Butterfly while I house-sat all the animals.

I have been listening to the Sandy Denny song, "Who knows where the time goes?"

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