Thompson God Whispers

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62287-284-8
Verlag: First Edition Design Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Wasserzeichen (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 100 Seiten

God desires and is pleased to communicate with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills, and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the souls of the redeemed men and women is the throbbing heart of the New Testament.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Thompson, Liz

Leseproben

Chapter 1 - Butterfly Moments
  “Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved.” Henri Nouwen (1921-1996)[7]   “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32   A movement caught my eye. Was it a reflection from the sun? Unsure, I moved in the direction it came from and found a rusty lantern we’d taken down last winter and hadn’t thrown away. Once the snow melted, all kinds of finds were appearing on our patio. I jumped when I picked up the rusty thing. Inside was a trapped butterfly, blue and beautiful, caught in the small space with no exit. Since the small door was rusted, I called to Bob, my husband, who was out front cleaning the yard. “Bob, there’s a butterfly trapped in here, and I can’t get the door open.” He took it gently and pried the door open with some tool he had in the garage. The butterfly struggled to move out of the opening and finally was free. It fell to the ground, and Bob reached for it. “His wing’s bent,” he told me. I almost cried but took it in my hand. “I’ll go out back with it and see if it will calm down enough to fly,” I said. I grabbed my camera on my way through the kitchen to the patio, hoping I would catch a shot of this beauty. Outside, it finally settled on my denim-clad leg and fluttered its wings or, rather, wing. Talking to it, I prayed it would live long enough to enjoy the breezy spring day. After I took a few photos, I carried the butterfly to the back of our yard where we have Shasta daisies growing. I placed it on one of the blooms and shot a few more pictures. The song “His Eye is on the Sparrow” came to mind. I knew God made everything and seeing the injury to this small creature, I guessed it was not long for this earth. Leaving it to sun itself, I walked to our garden to do some work. Later, Bob told me that the cocoon[8] was in the lantern, and of course, I took a photo of that as well. Later that evening, Bob told me he found the butterfly on the ground, dead. We knew this was going to happen, but we were a little sad anyway. It was a reminder of how delicate and short life is for every living thing. Butterflies fascinate me with their beauty and delicate nature. Jokingly, I have called them Flutterbys. While I was a reporter for Suburban News Publications (SNP) in Columbus, Ohio, I had what I called a Butterfly Moment. Since that time, it has become clear to me that I was being nudged gently by God and my eyes and heart were being opened to life as I’d never seen it before that day. It was a freeing moment and a theme that repeats throughout this book.   Butterfly Moments Can Come at Any Age [9] Liz Thompson I know how a butterfly must feel when it breaks out of its cocoon and spreads its wings. I must have been eight or nine years old when a Monarch butterfly landed on my tennis shoe and slowly spread its wings, showing its vibrant colors. Fully expecting it to take flight, I held my breath. It stayed on my shoe. I remember looking around so I could find someone to share the moment with, but I was the sole witness of what I considered miraculous. I doubt the word miraculous popped into my young brain. More likely it was something like “special” or “wow” that occurred to me. So special was this moment that some forty years later I can still remember I was in the alley between the Minors’ and the Bagleys’ homes. Houses took on the name and personalities of the owners in Old Westerville in the ‘50s. At least, to me, they did. I stood watching the butterfly, wondering what it meant that it stayed on my shoe so long. Did the butterfly like me? Had it chosen me? Remember, I was young. Time passed slowly on that hot summer day, and I didn’t move for fear the butterfly would take flight. Enjoying the company, I remember talking to it. People who know me realize it doesn’t take much for me to begin talking. Of course, eventually, it did fly away, and I pedaled my lavender and blue bicycle, that my Dad had put together for me from old bike parts, home as fast as I could. I ran into our old house yelling for my Mom, so I could share my butterfly experience with her. I think it was difficult for her to tell me that the butterfly had just freed itself from a cocoon and only paused to dry its wings, but I knew it had chosen me to share its special moment of freedom. Often we spend a lifetime binding ourselves into a self-made cocoon. I am not sure why this is often a human condition. We look, speak, and act as society dictates, often losing our sense of self and thus losing true freedom. Thoughts occur to me at what might seem like odd times—in the car driving, in the shower, and in dreams. Those all are times when I cannot act on the idea without great inconvenience. While driving to interview a man running for public office, I had my butterfly moment. Thinking about my work, I understood how a butterfly must feel when it sheds its cocoon and spreads its wings while flying to freedom. It was a profound thought for me because I realized I felt that same freedom. I felt unbound and finally free to love life unabashedly and do what I love to do: meet people and write. “Wow!” entered my mind just as it had when that monarch butterfly landed on my shoe many years ago. After that interview was complete, I dared to share my new thought with this man I had just met. It seemed appropriate, and inside I chuckled when his response was “Wow.” He and I talked about our shared goal of wanting to make a difference in this world. Our discussion was injected with new energy when we talked about representing people honestly and well. Integrity. Values. Freedom. These are not new thoughts or ideas. But when you experience them in a way that reaches into your soul, it is all new and fresh. Everything I experience has taken on a new vitality as if I had been partially asleep and now am awakened. I didn’t realize how uninformed and uninvolved I had been prior to the last six months as a reporter. I had no regrets and was thankful that, as I turned a half-century old, I could begin with an awareness that had been hidden as I was in my cocoon. Without the life experiences of the last fifty years, I most likely would never have shed that old cocoon, dried my wings, and taken flight. Plus, with experience, fears of change and of learning are gone. So I am running into my old house to share my news with you.   “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1   In late May of 2010, our ten year old grandson, Andrew, called me on the phone. “Nana, I have something to tell you!” The excitement in his voice let me know it was good news. “I found a caterpillar yesterday and put it in a jar. And guess what?” I told him I didn’t know. “This morning the caterpillar is in a cocoon!” “Wow! That’s wonderful, Andrew! That must have been exciting to see!” I said. “It means it will become a butterfly, Nana!” Then he shared something that reminded me of the way I think. “Nana, it’s really strange because the night before I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be neat if it became a butterfly?’ and now it will be!” A few days later, I heard from him again with another excited conversation. He had found a number of caterpillars, and they were all in cocoons. When I saw him next, he had the jar in his hand. He didn’t say anything to me, but I knew he wanted to show me. It was interesting that the multiple cocoons were all in one corner of the jar like a white mass of cotton candy without the pink or blue colors. It was a joy to share in his excitement all over again. Years ago, my daughter, Mary, Andrew’s mom, bought a butterfly hatching kit for her children, Jacob, Elizabeth, and Andrew. They watched the cocoons until the butterflies broke free and it was time to set the butterflies free. After watching them flutter away into the air, Andrew cried and hoped they would return to them. For days, they watched for signs of their beloved butterflies, only to be saddened each time they realized they were truly gone from the gentle grasp of their tiny hands. That is how parents feel when their children “break free” from their home and fly free as adults. Even as I write those words, tears are on the edge of my eyes when I remember watching them go out on their own. I wasn’t quite prepared for the tears I cried when they left, but I knew it was time for them to go.   Smoky Mountain Butterflies   Flying free, like a butterfly, is truly freeing– and...