Inspiration from Petra Pierre - Robertson

Thou hast emboldened me... (Song of Solomon 4:9) Emboldened      He stood frozen in the patio staring me fixed in the eye. It reminded me of the movie Cats and Dogs . The culprit had been revealed. Mere hours before we were wondering what animal had scattered the small stones we had aesthetically placed around our plants. What scattered the stones?      It couldn't be the dog that snuck into our yard to use the mulch around the plants as a toilet. We had changed the mulch to stone to dissuade that olfactory dysfunction.That change while dissuading the dog seemed to have attracted another animal. What animal was that? We wondered.  I tell you, when you think you have dealt with one situation there are others waiting. You run from the lion and encounter a bear (Amos 5:19); or from a bear on land to a shark in the sea. Running from one situation into another      Anyway let me continue telling you of Mr Cat.  COVID realities caused me to be working from home. It was a little after 7.

  I chose you (John 15:10) It was the last one. It was standing alone, outside of its box, obviously touched a lot, experimented with, and discarded. By the time I got to it, it was lying sideways, looking forlorn, and its box was nowhere, to be found. I fell in love with it immediately as I saw it. I picked it up turned it around and examined it. I wanted it. I wanted it     "But it may not be working. Look how used it looks." A quiet warning. I still wanted it. I loved it. I called a Customer Service Representative (CSR). She confirmed that it was the last one."Probably not working," she shrugged while rummaging on the shelf. Seeing that my interest had not waned, she offered,    "This is the box. Have it tested by the cashier before purchasing it. That it is here means no one wanted it. All the others were sold out." With item in hand I made my way to the cashier. She placed batteries in it. It moved slowly    "It isn't working prop

  Jeremiah 9:6  You live in the midst of deception I stepped outside to break the monotony of working online.   I was minding my own business desperately looking for at least one mango, when I stumbled into it. It was strung between the tank and the mango tree.   I stopped abruptly and cringed when I felt it against my face. The thin, almost transparent, intricately woven spider's web was not immediately visible.   On closer observation I noticed that it housed a very pretty, but probably poisonous spider that waited inert at the centre for potential unsuspecting preys (PUP) to be trapped. Pretty Probably Poisonous Spider Symbolisms, anecdotes, and quotes linking web with deception and deceit, immediately came to my mind.   I was almost deceived!   I raced back into the house for my phone, to capture images and document the epiphany moment.   "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" (Sir Walter Scott, 1808) Fast and ferocious the symbol

  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people… (1 Peter 2:9)   Well kept Pot Hound Almost everyone was walking their dog on the trail. It was a cool Sunday morning; a nice morning for walking . We were also walking; and we had a dog too. It is amazing how humans notice dogs. They notice the dog before they notice The Master. They gaze at the dog, wave to it and smile at it, before their eyes finally connect with The Master; the one responsible for the condition of the dog.   As they walk away, they look back at...the dog   Various breeds of dogs On this particular morning, there were various breeds of dogs; Labradors, Terriers, Mastiffs, Pompeks and even some foreign looking snow dogs (who were not here on vacation)! As the dogs passed each other, they sized each other up, straining at the leashes held tightly by their masters; each wanting to dominate the other and project themselves as the better and more powerful dog. (Sounds familiar?)   

  "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. "For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.”   Jeremiah 17:7-8 Plenty fruit. Good or bad? I couldn't believe it. This could not be the same tree that had given us luscious, bounteous, fruits earlier in the year.   The season had been long and fruitful. I ate mangoes for breakfast, and even lunch, most days.  This was an inconsistent tree.  The most we had gotten from it in the past was one mango every few days, 7 – 10 mangoes at most.  We had never seen it blossom and bear like this!  When, a few months after that heartening season, we saw that the tree was flowering again expectation and excitement arose.  The tree was on a roll!  I salivated anticipating peeling back skin to dig into the juicy pulp of the mango; or  

The eyes of the LORD  are  in every place, beholding the evil and the good.  Proverbs 15:3 I stood alone watching the snail as it moved around, outside of its shell, stretching, eating and luxuriating in the blazing sun, unaware that a potential enemy was lurking. It was secure with its shell; even if there was an enemy, its shell would provide protection.   Snail exploring its habitat After about eight minutes of observation, I decided to test that premise. Would it immediately pull into the shell if I ventured closer? I moved very close to it.   Immediately, the soft slimy body slid back into the safety of its shell. Snail pulling back into shell But how safe was that shell really?  It was so easy for me to crush it; or pick it up and fling it against a wall, or in a pond, or dig the soft body of the snail out of the shell with an object. It occurred to me then that the protection of the snail at that point, was not really in the shell, but in me as I stood almost guard-like over it.

“And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it…” Isaiah 30:21 Just Go     "Just Go." I stopped what I was doing and stood still. The impression was strong!   It stopped me in my tracks. But I was accustomed to checking first. To see if it made sense going. Because sometimes when I went nothing was there. Or what I thought was there wasn't there, or because I wanted it so badly, I thought God was saying “Go”, even He was saying nothing at all. So, when I heard, "Just go…" I momentarily hesitated to make the move. Instead, I turned in the direction of the familiar spot to check first, before deciding that I should go. But that strong impression; that voice! “Go now." Are you in a similar position? On prior occasions you thought you heard go and ventured out prematurely, to the point where, when the time came to really act, you almost missed out on your blessing because you had grown weary in well doing? You prayed but