Even in these cold winter months, these cheerful animals find time to have fun in the snow. North American River Otters are known to be playful and energetic animals who know how to have fun in any circumstance. They also know how to make their play beneficial, such as these otters are doing:
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In my last post, I complained about the season and what seemed like everlasting cold and snow. I hope you didn’t get me wrong; I love winter. I love snowflakes and warm fires and hot chocolate. I don’t even mind shoveling the snow for my family, but sometimes all this cold gets old. Sometimes I think of spring and summer and long to see it. It has snowed since my last post, and the accumulation has piled up to two or three feet now. I don’t mind much. I’m safe indoors with a hot cup of coffee and a warm fire. I don’t have to mind. I imagine this is a whole other story for the local animals who are awaiting spring to wake up the sun. I’m sure that they don’t think of the winter as a cozy, warm time. All they know are cold, frozen lives during this white season. I love this quote from Richard Adams, the author of the famous novel Watership Down: Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it. If I think about it, that is exactly what I like about winter. The proof against it. I don’t like the bitter cold. I don’t like the hard ice. I don’t like the lack of outside life. I only like my cozy, warm, sheltered life.
Animals have it differently. They can’t walk into a warm house for a bit of comfort. They can’t sit next to a cozy fire. They are stuck in the frozen, icy snow until Spring brings the warmth. Right now, I’m am sitting at a table in my chilly house looking out at the snow pile up inch by inch. There are ten inches so far, and it doesn’t appear to have any intention of ceasing. At times like this, I think of summer. I look back at old photographs that I took back in the days of warmth. I look at sunsets and glorious golden flowers among spectacular green grass. Even weeds don’t seem so bad at the moment. Sometimes I wonder if this is healthy. Will it help calm my longing for summer, or will it just instigate it to grow? I don’t know the answer, but I keep on doing it. At least it passes the time. Here are some photographs of the summer days that I dug up from my archives. I hope they help you if you, too, are longing for the days of summer.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. This verse in the book of Psalms fills me with love and awe of creation and the creator. I like how Timothy Keller puts it:
“A SOUNDLESS WORD. Why do mountains and oceans, the sun and stars move us as deeply as great art? The answer is because they are great art. Nature speaks to all (verse 2) without audible words (verse 3). It is nonverbal communication that there is a God, that the world is not an accidental collocation of molecules but the meaningful work of an artist’s hands. We should be reverent before our environment. It also means that all people know, at some level, about God, truth, meaning, wisdom, and beauty, even if they suppress that knowledge (Romans 1:18-21). Nevertheless, good, nonverbal communication is easily misinterpreted. We need something more.” Keller’s words speak such truth, and they inspire me. Maybe they inspire you, too? Timothy Keller ended with a prayer. Just one, perfect prayer. Read it as if you, too, are praying to the creator. “Maker of heaven and earth, your creation speaks and sings to us of your greatness. May I never despise nature, failing to care reverently for its integrity, nor worship nature, failing to let it point me beyond itself to your glory, which even it only ‘fitfully reflects.’ Amen.” Think about that this week. Maybe say that prayer to yourself a few times, maybe it will bless you. |
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