Riparian Institute

Do you ever think about what you were doing at this time a year ago? I sometimes do and last week I was remembering walking around Lake Kittamaqundi by our apartment in Maryland where I always saw lots of birds and flowers. It made me feel a little sad... and then I remembered... we have a Riparian Institute just a few miles from our house!

I set off bright and early the next morning with a bounce in my step and a song in my heart. I walked along a couple of paths for about an hour and a half enjoying nature- the quietness punctuated with a symphony of bird songs, the beautiful flowers and the serenity of the preserve. It was easy to forget I was in the middle of an urban area- just like the lake in Maryland! And everywhere I looked I was reminded of God's Word...

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.   1Peter 5:8

Give thanks to the Lord of lords: ... who gives food to every creature.  Psalm 136:3, 25

Come, all you who are thirsty...  Isaiah 55:1

Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.    Luke 12:27

Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young-- a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God.   Psalm 84:3

So God created the creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.   Genesis 1: 21

Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."  Mark 4:9