The Roadrunner

Doth not all nature around me praise God? If I were silent, I should be an exception to the universe. Doth not the thunder praise Him as it rolls like drums in the march of the God of armies? Do not the mountains praise Him when the woods upon their summits wave in adoration? Doth not the lightning write His name in letters of fire? Hath not the whole earth a voice? And shall I, can I, silent be?  Charles Spurgeon

My Mom and Dad have a roadrunner at the farm.  I’ll admit the only roadrunner I have ever seen was in a museum and he was stuffed.  Although I guess I could qualify as a roadrunner.  I drive 74 miles to and from work every day so that would make me one too.

Anyway, I was at the farm this weekend and had the opportunity to see the roadrunner in action.  I had my camera with me so I was able to get some close up photos of him.  Did I mention that he is fast?  He also has a crazy hairdo.  When he sees his prey, his hair sort of stands up in a crazy way.  He looks like a cross between Lyle Lovett and Elvis.  I decided to call him Elvis. 

He also doesn’t stand still for long; hence the name roadrunner.  As I watched him running back and forth across the lavender field it made me think of us.  We are always running.  We hate waiting in line, we get impatient when the stop light doesn’t change quick enough and we always have a whole list of things that need to be done. Or do they really? 

How many times do we sacrifice God time for roadrunning?  God time can be just sitting quietly without all of the things that we need to do running through our head distracting us from Him. 

One of the things I enjoy doing is watching nature.  Maybe because it reminds me so much of God and His creation and it calms me.  I live near a major freeway but our patio faces away from it so I can sit on my patio and watch nature and you can’t hear the sounds of traffic.  I often take my camera with me because it has zoom on it so I can get up close and personal with nature without disturbing it.  I have photos of redbirds, blue jays, doves, lizards and squirrels to name a few.  

When I watch nature I see God at work. He created in them a need for survival and they go at it with gusto.  Yesterday my husband went to the store and came back.  He walked into the house and said “I think we have a dove sanctuary in our backyard.”  There were doves in the bushes behind our fence and the pair on our patio are already nesting. 

Take time to slow down and observe what God created.  There are amazing things to be learned by watching God at work in nature. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, when I watched the roadrunner this weekend, he reminded me of Your great creation.  I often get so busy that I don’t take time out to appreciate what You have made.  When I lose focus and take my eyes away from You, I miss seeing You in action.  Help me to slow down and rest and meditate on You.

     

Scripture:  Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  Genesis 1:20-25