I recently bought a fish. He's a red betta. Red, because it's pretty. A betta because the lady at the pet store said they're the hardest to kill. We're pals. I also have an assortment of houseplants. (I do best with the kind that you don't have to water all the time.)
It's fun. I like living things (it really is best if they're hard to kill). While the diversity and beauty of living things is a HUGE blessing, that isn't the biggest gift my fish and plants give to me. Their greatest benefit for my soul is the fact that they do what God created them to do without complaint.
God created fish to swim. My fish is quite content with his lot in life; he does not rebel against the Maker by trying to escape the bowl. He must understand that God has put him there for his own good, not his detriment.
The plants sit in their respective window sills and shelves, some enjoying the sun, some enjoying less of the sun. They produce oxygen and filter the air. They are doing what God created them to do without competition as to who's the most beautiful, who produces the most oxygen, who is best.
And these things, fish and plants, are a great reminder to me that though I am human (and have a much, much bigger purpose ahead of me than swimming around a tank looking pretty or sitting on a sill soaking up the sun...say that 10 times fast) I too am made by God for a purpose. I am to be content doing what God has called me to do, not in one or five or ten years but in the here and now.
A lot of life is monotonous; we get up at the same time each morning, go to the same job, eat the same food, go to bed at the same time, with sprinkles of chores and community in between. God has called very few people to be great. He likes to use the weak and foolish and despised things (1 Corinthians 1) to bring Him glory. I think He smiles at the fish swimming in his tank and the penguins in Antarctica and my clean dishes.
So often I am tempted to think that I must be doing something really amazing, like being a world renowned speaker and writer...or start a charity...or move to a third world country and start an orphanage, in order to make my life count. But that's a lie. And its a lie that Satan wants me to believe so that I focus on those things rather than the here and now.
Maybe someday God will call me to something else, but for right now He has called me to get up and go to work each day, even when I'm tired. He has called me to serve and love my church family, biological family, and community. He has called me to spend time with Him and have clean dishes and exercise regularly and eat well. He has called me to live and worship in the daily, ordinary, mundane. He has planned all things well. And because He is good, in Him I can rejoice, no matter how boring or pointless life may seem.
Speaking of which, I should go water my plants.
**as a fun aside, the betta and plants in these pictures are my own. Usually I get my pictures from google but I thought it would be fun to show you the real deal this time. Google, however, did provide the middle pictures as, alas, I do not yet own a penguin.
It's fun. I like living things (it really is best if they're hard to kill). While the diversity and beauty of living things is a HUGE blessing, that isn't the biggest gift my fish and plants give to me. Their greatest benefit for my soul is the fact that they do what God created them to do without complaint.
God created fish to swim. My fish is quite content with his lot in life; he does not rebel against the Maker by trying to escape the bowl. He must understand that God has put him there for his own good, not his detriment.
The plants sit in their respective window sills and shelves, some enjoying the sun, some enjoying less of the sun. They produce oxygen and filter the air. They are doing what God created them to do without competition as to who's the most beautiful, who produces the most oxygen, who is best.
And these things, fish and plants, are a great reminder to me that though I am human (and have a much, much bigger purpose ahead of me than swimming around a tank looking pretty or sitting on a sill soaking up the sun...say that 10 times fast) I too am made by God for a purpose. I am to be content doing what God has called me to do, not in one or five or ten years but in the here and now.
A lot of life is monotonous; we get up at the same time each morning, go to the same job, eat the same food, go to bed at the same time, with sprinkles of chores and community in between. God has called very few people to be great. He likes to use the weak and foolish and despised things (1 Corinthians 1) to bring Him glory. I think He smiles at the fish swimming in his tank and the penguins in Antarctica and my clean dishes.
So often I am tempted to think that I must be doing something really amazing, like being a world renowned speaker and writer...or start a charity...or move to a third world country and start an orphanage, in order to make my life count. But that's a lie. And its a lie that Satan wants me to believe so that I focus on those things rather than the here and now.
Maybe someday God will call me to something else, but for right now He has called me to get up and go to work each day, even when I'm tired. He has called me to serve and love my church family, biological family, and community. He has called me to spend time with Him and have clean dishes and exercise regularly and eat well. He has called me to live and worship in the daily, ordinary, mundane. He has planned all things well. And because He is good, in Him I can rejoice, no matter how boring or pointless life may seem.
Speaking of which, I should go water my plants.
"But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you, and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind."
Job 12:7-10
**as a fun aside, the betta and plants in these pictures are my own. Usually I get my pictures from google but I thought it would be fun to show you the real deal this time. Google, however, did provide the middle pictures as, alas, I do not yet own a penguin.
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