Muskrat Family
John Miller
12/01/20
- Windstream Mail
R E F L E C T I O N S Thoughts on nature and the Christian faith - 11/30/20 ______________________________________________ "For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." - II Cor. 5:1 |
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In the Canaan Valley of West Virginia there is a small pond that is home to a muskrat family. The lodge they have constructed rises out of the water at the shallow end of the pond. The muskrats enter under the water through an opening which rises to a dry chamber above the water line in the center of the lodge. Although they are in darkness, they are safe. Since muskrats are aquatic mammals, they will never make it to the colorful forest they can see beyond their pond. This pond is their world. We are like that. Our lodge, our tent, is the fleshly body that we have been given. Our pond, our world, is the planet we inhabit. With the eyes of faith we can gaze upon the beauty of a place to which we have not yet gone. But we have an advantage over the muskrats. We have a new home, a new dwelling place, built for us in the heavens. This home is built by the Master Builder, and it will never be destroyed. The promise is that when our time in this pond is over we will be carried to our new home and will live in communion with the Master Builder forever. I think when we get to that new home in those colorful forests we will look back on the home we have left and wonder why we spent so much time trying to fix up a home we knew we were going to abandon. And I wonder what the muskrats think as they sit on the top of their lodges gazing at the beauty of the forests in the distance. They may look in longing, but we look in anticipation. So, when your lodge starts to crumble and your pond begins to stink, look with the eyes of faith to your new home. It will be great to go there and, while there is still time, why don't you invite someone to come along with you? - John
