“He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.” (Eccl 3:11)
Last week, a very selfless little squirrel gave us his entire winter stash of pinecones. Twenty-seven of them, all neatly tucked away for safekeeping–in the transmission of our new car!
Needless to say, it was a couple of days before we fully came to appreciate the unselfish nature of this little beast, who certainly had no way of knowing that his gift would turn into a nightmare for the “lucky” recipient…
Due to his “love gift”, the stick shift stuck in reverse, and since you really can’t make a 20 kilometer drive in the backwards’ direction, my poor husband was stranded, resigned to wait the required 45 minutes for the tow truck to arrive and transport him home and the car to the mechanic. No, we didn’t immediately thank the tiny rodent. Rather for the next couple of days, every time we saw one of this rascal’s relatives, let’s just say our thoughts were far from grateful; especially when we were without our car for an entire day, having to rely on others to get us to work, and when his actions necessitated an unplanned trip to a far-away town to pick up our “repaired” (or should I say, “unstuck???”) vehicle. And our thoughts strayed even farther from the appreciative side when we were presented with a 140$ bill and a bag of 27 pinecones…
No, I don’t suppose anyone could say that we fully appreciate that squirrel’s noble gift…
I wasn’t about to throw out those pinecones, however. After all, they were the most expensive pinecones I had ever owned. Instead, I put them in the oven on a low temperature to “dry” them out. Imagine my delight to open the oven door to see that the closed little pinecone knots had burst forth into beautiful, perfectly formed, large pinecones!
After letting them dry for a few days, I was amazed to see that the pinecones were now giving up their pine nuts! Thousands of them! Too bad I don’t know what to do with this particular variety of pine nuts, but I’m sure that my generous squirrel would be happy to show me…
I had heard in the past that there are varieties of pine trees that will only release their nuts, which incidentally, are pine tree seeds, in the face of intense heat, such as that found in a forest fire. It makes me think of the trials we are required to go through in life. We don’t like them. They are burn. Yet sometimes it is only in the face of the heat of our trials that we can truly “blossom”, “open up”, that we can truly “release” that which God has designed us to release; and in the process, we turn from something ordinary into something beautiful.
What am I going to do with my pine cones? Once they’ve stopped shedding their nuts, I’m going to make them into a fall centre piece for my table, and if there are any left over (after all, the “giving squirrel” left me 27 of them!), I will make a Christmas pinecone wreath.
This is what God does with the troubles we go through: He takes them, He uses them to “open us up” and to make us release our “seed”, and then He uses them to make something beautiful in our lives.
The next time you are faced with troubles of any kind, remember my generous squirrel and his little “gift” of pinecones: Enough to stop my car from going in the forward direction; enough to cost 140$ in repairs; and enough to teach me a valuable lesson about trials: God will always make everything beautiful, in His time (Eccl 3:11); and His promise, that ALL things work together for good for those who love God (Rom 8:28) is true!
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28)
I plan to remember this every time I look at my beautiful fall centrepiece…
Oh, and I’m happy to “lend out” my benevolent squirrel to anyone who would like to pay 140$ for 27 pinecones…
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.
(To access the entire “Lessons From a Benevolent Squirrel” mini-series, please click here.)