Mildly, Although Not Completely, Off Topic

Spring rains, though dreary at times, have brought out brilliant greens in the landscape near my home. I am so thankful for the life all around me.

Robins picking bugs in the dewy grass each morning. Headlights revealing the glinting eyes of a fox as I pass by after sunset. The silent glide of a hawk over stretches of field, searching for its dinner meal in the late afternoon.

I am in love with all that God created...and today, my heart was deeply grieved at seeing the image of an innocently suffering oil-smeared pelican on the front page of the newspaper. We have been given so much, but look at what we've done to it.

I am so glad that this is not a permanent state of being. Life does not end here, like this. All the world's suffering and destruction - yours, mine, and even creation's - will come to an end. This is my great hope and belief...this is what I look forward to.

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.

19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,

21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

Romans 8:18-23
New Living Translation

Thank-you, Lord, that you have promised that you will make all things new! You say you will fix all wrongs, and make them right. We have been told how this all ends, and it will be very good, indeed.

1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had disappeared, and so had the sea.

2 Then I saw New Jerusalem, that holy city, coming down from God in heaven. It was like a bride dressed in her wedding gown and ready to meet her husband.

3 I heard a loud voice shout from the throne:

God's home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people.

4 He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever.

5 Then the one sitting on the throne said:

I am making everything new. Write down what I have said. My words are true and can be trusted.

6 Everything is finished! I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give water from the life-giving fountain to everyone who is thirsty.

7 All who win the victory will be given these blessings. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Revelation 21:1-7

In light of all these things, I see, know, and believe that my trials and sufferings on this earth are truely temporary. I hope and pray to be able to cling to Jesus through this current sadness, and that I will be able to see things through His eyes, so that I may experience fulness of joy.

7 I will bless the Lord who guides me;
even at night my heart instructs me.

8 I know the Lord is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
Psalm 16:7,8