I love thinking about creation–about how God created the heavens and the earth and all things. As we drive around this very barren land, over to the left there are two bull elephants. We sit for a while and watch the larger one scratch his back on the bark of the tree. We then watch him push over a tree and proceed to eat branches that look like they are dead. Such powerful, majestic creatures.
A few minutes later, there are two male lions resting in the shade. We stop for coffee and here come the white rhinos–a mother and her calf. We saw a troupe of baboons and a herd of wildebeests and too many varieties of antelope to keep up with. And oh the birds, the colors too vivid and beautiful to even describe. I think that is why God made the birds on a different day than He made the animals–He needed time to paint them one by one.
As we continued our drive, we saw a beautiful lilac breasted roller-the most photographed bird in the Kruger National Park. She was perched on top of a very dead, lifeless tree. I may not have seen it as well if it were perched in a lush green one.So much beauty in spite of the barrenness of the land. Perhaps that is why God allows for barren times in our lives-to bring forth beauty that can really stand out, beauty that can only be from Him. Maybe we are like those birds–lovelier still in the midst of dry times as we are allowing God to work in our lives and strip us of all that resists Him and teaching us to rely on Him in greater ways than we ever thought possible.
Father, thank You for Your creation, for times and seasons, and for the great work You are doing in our lives.