All things Bright and Beautiful

Black Friday was an amazing day for our family this year.

After doing some bargain shopping
and having a great time getting a Christmas tree with our Deur cousins

We did something we have only done twice as a family:

We got a puppy!

After much debate we named him 

Bowser

We fell fast in love with this little pup

We held him and played with him

We totally loved him.

What we didn't know then 

was that Bowser was sick

(or at least conditions were ripe for him to become sick)

As the days went on, he became sicker and weaker.

We went to the vet day after day,

gave him medicine, tried to force him to eat, and prayed for him.

But by late Friday night, he was gone.

We had him for only seven days

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Our house has a heavy feel to it right now and

I'm left with more questions than answers.  

Why now, after years of postponing getting another dog?

And why this dog?

What more could we have done?

And why didn't God answer our prayers and intervene?  

Which of course leads to a whole new list of questions that are even harder to answer, like:

Why do parents have to bury their children?

Why do young moms get terminal cancer?

Why do kids have to say goodbye to their parents, when they still need their help and support?

On and on these questions go....

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Sunday morning came and we are in the middle of Advent season.

So here's another question:

Why was the first song we sang,

"All Things Bright and Beautiful"?

Is this some kind of cruel joke God orchestrated to see how much He could make me cry?

"All things Bright a Beautiful

All creatures great and small

all things wise and wonderful--

the Lord God made them all"

 Oh, and I cried all through the service.  It was hard. 

I tried to keep it together, but was not very successful.

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So, I'm certainly not to the point where I can make any sense out of this all,

but here is something that struck me--

There is this verse in the song that I don't really remember from before:

"He gave us eyes to see them,

and lips that we might tell 

how great is God Almighty,

who has made all things well."

Knowing what I know about this world I recognize that,

 until Christ comes again, 

all living things will eventually die.

For some it is not until they are in their 90s or later

For some it is before they are born.

For most it comes somewhere between those two extremes.

But their end will come,

sooner or later.

So,

What can we do?

Well,

We can see with our eyes 

the beauty of the creation

and tell with our lips

how God made them good.

So today I'm going to tell you about

Bowser

I saw him with my own eyes

and he was
beautiful

I'm so thankful that God creates such beautiful creatures.
As hard as grief is
and as unfair as it all can be,
Can you imagine a world without such beauty?