You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, along with all their multitude of stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. (Nehemiah 9:6)
Our cat charged across the floor chasing an imaginary mouse. It was a comic burst of life from an otherwise inert pet. Thank you, God, for frisky cats. A lot of smiles would disappear from the earth without them.
A friend peeled back swaddling to show off her newborn baby. The ruby mouth stretched into a yawn all of one inch across. The elixir of life was doubly concentrated in this tiny masterpiece. Hallelujah, thank you, Lord Jesus, for babies. We’d be so much less without them.
A spray of water shot from the Alaskan ocean. It was the exhale of a thirty ton humpback whale. After several breaths, her tail fluke rose, then slipped down to a forest of kelp and sardines.
God, you didn’t have to create lifeforms in such wild diversity, but you did, and it is glorious. Thank you for whales that play beneath the waves. I can’t imagine the seas empty of our mammalian cousins.
On par with God’s incalculable gift of life is his second gift of reclaimed life. His initial invention was too brilliant to be discarded after mankind vandalized it. Nature lies defaced, but the heartbeat flutters. And Jesus has come with a plan of renewal.
We are given a window of time to participate with our Redeemer’s solution. Cats, new babies, all creation will be remade, and very soon. Until then, heaven and earth watch to see if we’ll champion his two mind-boggling gifts—birth and rebirth.
Prayer: Blessed Creator, thank you for the gift of life, and its reclamation.