Recently, I was honored to have an opportunity to learn about the heart of Jesus
and what we look like in His eyes. The story happened two weeks ago. As spring is
coming, my neighbors, squirrels and a chipmunk, are becoming very active in my
front yard.
One sunny afternoon, I brought some nuts to feed them. One brave squirrel with
some dots on the back came up to me. This squirrel grabbed the nut with his teeth on
my hand gently and politely. I love this squirrel because he trusted me enough to
come closer to me. I named him Peter (Luke 5:1-11).
As time goes by, another squirrel found Peter was getting food from me. This
squirrel really wanted some nuts, but she is very cautious and shy. I am glad that she is
being alert as a wild animal, so she can protect herself generally. It took her a while
to trust me. She ran to me and ran away immediately. But every time, she was
coming a little closer to me than the last time.
She repeated this pattern many times. It is fun for me to see that sometimes, she
pretended she was not coming for me; she went around to observe me.
This great difference between Peter and this lady squirrel is showing up. Peter
came to me frequently, so somehow, he ate more nuts than the lady squirrel. Peter was
so full that he lay his belly down on the ground. With no intention of me being biased,
Peter got more food.
This observation makes me think that maybe this is the reason why some
Christians receive more grace and more intimacy with God. Some Christians receive
relatively less because they come to God less closely and less frequently. They ask
less, so they receive less.
Nevertheless, His grace is incomparable and we cannot quantify grace. How
much grace God gives is according to God’s severity. We all pray for more grace and
blessing, but what I want to clarify is that to the people who ask for more, God gives
more. They get to experience more of His richness and power as a child of God. They
got to experience more victory and breakthrough in their daily lives. This is more than
being baptized and attending church every Sunday.
Then you might ask if is usual for people who come to God less closely and less
frequently to feel starved and in need? My answer is No. For the lady squirrel, I drop
the nut on the ground to make sure the lady squirrel can eat. I sat on the ground and
waited for her. I pretended that I am not looking at her, so she could feel comfortable
to grab the nut.
Guess what? While I was feeding Peter and the lady squirrel, a tiny chipmunk
came out from nowhere. He rushed to me with super fast speed, and ran away with a
super fast speed. Without a word, I understood that this chipmunk wanted some nuts
as well. So later, I threw a nut to him after little while of eye contact. Likewise, God
does not require us inflexibly to only go to God in a certain way or only eat the nut
from his hands. When we fail to pray, He still sees us. God does not neglect our needs
and hearts, most of the time. He understands and accepts the way we interact with
Him.
If I called the trusting squirrel Peter, I prefer to call this chipmunk Thomas (John
20:24-31). Through feeding both Peter, lady squirrel, and Thomas, I had a glimpse of
the heart of Jesus. I understood why Jesus loved Peter, though Peter made a lot of
mistakes. I understood why Jesus gently showed Thomas His nail-scarred hands and
feet instead of harshly rebuking his little faith. The heart of Jesus is full of grace and
mercy, gentle and meek.
I am aware that this story might not be the perfect story to describe our
relationship with our Father in heaven, but I share this story for two reasons. First, this
story raised my self-knowledge. Just as it is not natural for wild animals to build trust
and relationship with giant humans, so it is not natural for humans with a sinful nature
to build trust and relationship with God. Though people with a sinful nature was not
God’s original plan when they were created, we are used to doing things in our own
ways with our human strength. We are used to living a life without God. Therefore,
after Adam and Eve sinned, it is extremely unfamiliar and unnatural to live with God
in a trusting relationship. Sometimes, we doubt, fear, hide, and hesitate.
Second, this story raised my knowledge of God. As I stopped trying to control the
squirrels’ action exactly the way I expect them to do, I allowed them to be them. I
started to understand their limitation, lack of faith, trust, and anxiety. Furthermore, I
found myself full of compassion. I did not compare squirrel Peter and chipmunk
Thomas. I did not look down on chipmunk Thomas due to his little faith. Likewise,
our Father in heaven longs for us to go to Him and trust Him, but He understands it
takes time for us to trust Him. He understands that we’ve been living without Him for
generations, so we don’t know how to get along with Him and live with Him. Hence,
God guides us and teaches us with grace and patience. God does not force us to go to
him, instead He attracts us to Him. Just like nuts attracts squirrels and chipmunks to
me, God the father attracts us to him with His mercy and righteousness. We have the
assurance from the Lord’s Prayer. We can ask for our needs with confidence, but not
begging for mercy. God knows what kind of people we are and still loves us. God
approaches us with patience, in a way we can understand and accept.
When I was feeding the squirrels, I was looking into their eyes closely. I felt so
much joy when I saw them receive and eat what I gave them. They did not do
anything special or great to please me, but they already looked perfectly beautiful and
precious in my eyes. It help me to understand how God views me.
The close attention and passion from God are
like a fire. When I look into God’s eyes, I find myself in it. Though sometimes, I still
fall down and become weak, I am flawless in God’s eyes. If you are a parent, I assume
you understand what I am saying, the feeling when you look at your children with
close attention and love.
Debbie Jin
Ps: This writing has no intention to encourage people to feed wild squirrels.
This blog post is worth the read – trust us!
dalam permainan mengunakan strategi terbaik.
solid dalam tim.
Hal perlu di perhatikan dalam kunci kesukses itu dari sudut pola kedua Habanero. Dalam hal yang mempermudah semua pemain untuk aktif kegroup agar semua peminat bisa mencoba bermain mesin penghasil uang
Fantastic post however I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject?
I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further.
Thank you!
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your sites really nice,
keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back down the road.
Many thanks
We’re a gaggle of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our
community. Your website offered us with helpful info to work on. You’ve done a formidable activity and our whole community shall be grateful to
you.
Do you have any video of that? I’d love to find out more details.
I’ve been browsing on-line more than 3 hours lately, but I
never discovered any interesting article like yours. It’s
beautiful price sufficient for me. In my view, if
all site owners and bloggers made good content material as you
probably did, the internet shall be a lot more helpful than ever before.
I think the admin of this web site is truly working hard for his
web page, since here every stuff is quality based stuff.
I am glad to be a visitant of this sodding site! , regards for this rare information!
I truly appreciate this blog.Much thanks again. Will read on…
Situs Toto Slot Resmi Gampang Menang dan Maxwin
ENAKCUAN Sudah menjadi salah satu agen yang dikenal banyak warga Indonesia sebagai salah satu dewa888 slot gacor dengan berbagai permainan yang dapat dimiliki oleh semua pemain. Game Slot ini juga menambahkan nilai permainan besar dan kemenangan jackpot yang makin menguntungkan untuk pemain.
This is the perfect blog for everyone who really wants to understand this topic.
You know so much its almost tough to argue with you (not that I really would want
to…HaHa). You certainly put a new spin on a topic that’s been written about
for many years. Wonderful stuff, just great!
O Planode Saúde Amil Platinum é uma opção abrangente e sofisticada que proporcionauma variedade de benefícios aos seus usuários, possuindo acesso a hospitais de primeira linha. Os clientes do plano amilplatinum têm acesso as melhores instituições de saúde do país. Entre oshospitais parceiros estão o Oswaldo Cruz, Sabara, Nove Julho, A C Camargo em São Paulo, podendo adicionar o atendimento no Sírio Libanês na opção Platinum.
O Planode Saúde Amil Platinum é uma opção abrangente e sofisticada que proporcionauma variedade de benefícios aos seus usuários, possuindo acesso a hospitais de primeira linha. Os clientes do plano amilplatinum têm acesso as melhores instituições de saúde do país. Entre oshospitais parceiros estão o Oswaldo Cruz, Sabara, Nove Julho, A C Camargo em São Paulo, podendo adicionar o atendimento no Sírio Libanês na opção Platinum.
ENAKCUAN Game Online Berbasis Server Thailand,Enakcuan adalah situs game online yang memiliki server asli di thailand yang membedakan enakcuan dengan situs penyedia game online lainnya adalah tingkat kemenangan yang mudah di dapatkan dan tingkat pelayanan yang super cepat
You are so cool! I do not believe I’ve truly read through something like this before
I like the way you made this article. Short but juicy. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing such valuable information
I like meeting utile info, this post has got me even more info!
Thought about have fun with simply just perusing your personal sites
I am glad to be a visitant of this sodding site! , regards for this rare information!
I am really loving the theme/design of your web
site. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility issues?
A small number of my blog readers have complained about my website not working correctly
in Explorer but looks great in Firefox. Do you have any suggestions to help
fix this problem?
Link exchange is nothing else however it is only placimg thee other person’s blog link onn youur page
at suitable place andd other person will lso do similoar inn support of you.
Terbaik Dan Terpercaya Tinggal Klik Sekarang Bisa Langsung^^
I used to be able to find good information from your articles.
This text is worth everyone’s attention. How can I find out more?
I am regular visitor, how are you everybody? This paragraph posted at this web site is actually fastidious.
Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a
blogger, and I was curious about your situation; many of us have
created some nice practices and we are looking to exchange
strategies with others, please shoot me an email if interested.
I have been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or weblog posts in this kind of space .
Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site.
Studying this information So i’m happy to show that I have an incredibly good uncanny feeling I came upon exactly what I needed.
I such a lot without a doubt will make certain to
do not disregard this web site and provides it a look on a relentless basis.
Nice to be visiting your blog again, it has been months for me. Well this article that i’ve been waited for so long. I need this article to complete my assignment in the college, and it has same topic with your article. Thanks, great share.