Earth Psalms - March 2010

In the words of Winston Churchill, “Never give up.  Never give up.  Never give up.”  That must be the rallying call of the woodpeckers in our neighborhood, some of whom have decided the vent holes beneath our eaves are the perfect location for a new house.  We’ve had one pesky fellow trying to widen the access to our attic.  He managed to get through the wire mesh and pull out some insulation.

We wouldn’t have known he was at work if he hadn’t decided to put his machine gun beak into our bedroom wall.  I leapt off the exercycle, ran to the wall and pounded back – with both fists.   Silence.  For one whole minute.  I was no sooner back to cycling, than he was back at work.  This time I ran out of the room, down the stairs and out through the back door.  He fluttered calmly away and took a break on the oak down the hill.  I know he was smirking....

Our family lives in the “Redwood Empire” of Northern California, within half an hour of Armstrong Woods and two hours from the Avenue of the Giants.  I’ve always marveled when standing inside a grove of redwood trees. Though the trees tower hundreds of feet overhead, and some of these trees are so big you can link hands with ten people and still not encircle the base, these giants have a shallow root structure.  A good wind would blow one over if it were standing alone like an oak tree on a hillside.  But because they grow close together, the roots are interwoven, adding strength so that when the winds come and the rains pound and soak the soil, these trees stand and continue to grow – some for thousands of years.   

This reminds me my church family.  We come together to focus our hearts and minds on the Lord above, our light and our salvation.  As HE teaches us, we encourage one another, we embrace in joy and in sorrow, we pray for one...