November 19, 2007

Here it is, the week of Thanksgiving. The nights are chilly, but the days have been mostly very nice; warm and sunny. Enough to keep my plants alive. But I have to bring them in every night to avoid freezing.
My cats spend the nights inside now; as opposed to the cold outdoors. Of course, they wake me up in the middle of the night occasionally; as they dislike each other immensely, both jealous of the attention I give the other, and sometimes pick two or three in the morning as a prime time for a sibling fight. I get up, break it up, and go promptly back to bed. My black one, Smokey, spends most of her time lying on the rug in front of the french doors, where she can get plenty of sunshine in the day; and tries to smuggle her way into the bathroom closet to sleep on top of the towels during the night. My Duchess, a gorgeous orange and white, almost persian looking cat, spends most of her daylight hours out hunting away from home; but usually she comes back in the evening to spend the night curled up at my feet. Despite their quirks, I love them both dearly. I'm hoping that my dog, Sebastian, a Britney Spaniel, and they will get along well; but as I don't have Sebastian yet, and have no idea when that will happen, I don't worry about it much. :)

My friend and I finished our study of Rebekah today. Her story appears through Genesis 24; 25:19-34; 26:1-17, 34-35; and 27. Interesting to me was the difference there seemed to be in Rebekah from the time she was first approached by Abraham's servant, and the time she encouraged Jacob to deceive his father. One thing I saw was the similarity with Sarah. Like Sarah, God had told Rebekah what would happen in the future; but when it didn't seem that it would happen, or come quickly enough, Rebekah, like Sarah, took matters into her own hands, deciding that God needed a little help from her. It is a sad fact that as women, we all too often grow impatient and decide to take matters into our own all-too-incapable hands. Why can't we just wait on the Lord's timing? Why must we always chomp at the bit; rush headlong into situations we ultimately find we can't handle? David encourages us in Psalms 25 repeatedly, and in 27:14, to wait for the Lord; "Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord." Waiting for the Lord is rarely easy. Waiting requires strength, and courage, and faith. Strength, to hold us back from jumping ahead; courage, for fear comes with the unknown; and faith, that God will indeed bring about what He has spoken. May God grant you and I all three, and may we 'be strong', let our 'heart(s) take courage' and 'wait for the Lord'.