STRESS RELIEVERS FROM GOD’S
CREATIONS
Today carried a heavy
weight of stressors for my friend and me. In the late afternoon, she sent me a
photo of the two cats she recently inherited. Her message was: “stress
relievers.” Looking at the picture, I could feel myself reaching out to pet
their soft silky fur, and I exhaled a slow sigh of relief, and I felt myself
starting to relax. When God created animals and gave some of them the ability
to become our pets, He sure knew what He was doing!
Many of God’s creations
can ease our burdened souls: a beautiful sky, a flower-filled hillside, an
expansive view of the ocean, a motorcycle ride with the wind blowing in your
face, a big hug from a friend, all this and so much more. But for me, pets are
one of the biggest blessings. God anticipated days like this when His children would
need something in the physical world to calm them. He planned a great variety
so that He could have something special for every person.
It was so important to God
to prepare things to bless us that He put it right in the beginning of His
written word, and before that, His message was already set in the sky and in everything
He created. He made many wonderful things for His children even before the
children came. We do the same thing today. When a couple finds out they are
having a baby, they start to prepare for the baby. They try to get everything
set, so when that baby arrives, it has a wonderful and happy physical environment
to come into.
In Genesis, God uses the
first 25 verses to describe what He created before He brought humans into
existence on the earth. At work, we always make jokes about doing the prep work
before painting. We say: “75% prep, and 25% actual painting time,” and most of
the time, it’s true! Truth is: if the prep work isn’t quality, the painting
doesn’t come out as well as it could. God did His prep work well!
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. . . And
God said, ‘Let there be light:’ and there was light.
“And God said, ‘Let the waters under the
heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear:
and it was so.’ And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering
together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
“And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding
seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit. . . and God saw that it
was good.
“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
“And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life, and the fowl that may fly above the earth in the open
firmament of heaven’. And God created great whales, and every living creature
that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and
every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
“And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle
after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind:
and God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1:1-24 some words left out for
brevity’s sake).
Then,
after all the intricacies and details of the creative works He did in
preparation for us, verse 26 records: “And God said, Let us make man.”
Today, even
though I couldn’t physically touch the kitties, I could feel what it was like
if I could, and even the thought of petting their soft silky, warm bodies
calmed me down, and I was able to rest. I am so happy that God created animals
who would want to become our beloved pets.
Love, Carolyn
