Islands

 by Macy Johnson

“The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

the crags are a refuge for the coneys (rock badgers).”

(Psalm 104:18 NIV)

 

There is a large island nestled close to the dam in Alabama’s Lake Martin. When the lake was formed in the 1920’s goats were stranded on the island, so the locals named it “Goat Island.” You can cruise around the island in a boat or on a jet ski and look up its steep, rocky landscape in search of goats. Some vacationers pull their boats up on the island’s sandy shores and pitch a tent for a holiday weekend or afternoon picnic. There are no bridges to Goat Island, no ways for its original inhabitants to escape.

Puzzle Trays

 by Macy Johnson

“A time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away.”

(Ecclesiastes 3:6 NIV)

 

Life is like a puzzle tray. We come across things to do or create from our experiences, then toss them into a tray, a schedule of sorts. Once all the pieces for a project are collected, we gather them from the mental trays and form a picture, a plan to complete the task.

 

Often we have to search our minds for the best next thing. Sometimes we possessed the item already, but it slipped away. Jeff’s favorite, expensive clippers were lost. The last time he remembered using them was when pruning a plant in the front yard. After hours or searching, he gave up. Later in the day while raking in a flower bed, the clippers magically appeared from under a pile of leaves.

 

Some people organize puzzle pieces by color, like the Goodwill store’s layout. I like to arrange them by items in the picture: a house, the water, groups of people, etc. I used to separate pieces by the grid sections of the puzzle, allocating them evenly.

 

Puzzle trays can be like chapters of a book. I gathered information from a 2007 interview with my aunt. After tossing facts around for weeks, I decided to categorize them by person and tossed facts into unique family chapters.

 

After not playing Bridge for over a year, my friends are back together for our weekly fun time. During the pandemic, we experienced a time to give up, to let our desires go, our relationships go, but we held on to hopes of gathering again. Yesterday we played bridge in person again for the first time!

 

I will strive to put my plans into appropriate mental trays according to my heavenly Father’s perfect will. I hope you will, too!

Scavengers

by Macy Johnson

“‘Yes, Lord,’ she said, ‘but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall

from their masters’ table.’”

(Matthew 15:27 NIV)

 

I was startled from a deep sleep by the sound of empty cans banging against the tall aluminum pole at campsite #69 in Mistletoe State Park near Augusta, Georgia. Rocky Raccoon, balanced on his hind legs, exposed his big, white, furry belly, and clawed on the large, hanging, garbage bag.

Chronological Bible

 by Macy Johnson

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.”

(John 1:1 NIV)

 

During a Bible study Zoom meeting the participants discussed how nice it would be to read about Jesus’ life sequentially, as it unfolded. I discovered a chronological Bible exists, complete with historical and other archaeological data.

Living Water

 by Macy Johnson

“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God 

and who it is that asks you for a drink, 

you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’”

(John 4:10 NIV)

 

“My wife was taken to the emergency room last night,” a friend told me. “She forgot to drink enough water yesterday and became dehydrated.”

2020 Visions

 by Macy Johnson

“He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;

He enables me to stand on the heights.”

(2 Samuel 22:34 NIV)

 

On my way home from church one Sunday, I was startled by a lone doe at the highest curve in the road. She greeted me with her head held high, then bounded off into the woods.

 

God used isolation and changes in plans to bring new visions in 2020. Did we pay attention?

Color Blindness

 by Macy Johnson

“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

Honor one another above yourselves.”

(Romans 12:10 NIV)

 

My husband is colorblind. He has a mild case of deuteranomaly, a form of color blindness in which the green cones in the eye detect too much red light and not enough green light. As a result, reds, greens, yellows, and browns can appear similar. Jeff’s dreams of becoming a Navy pilot crashed with a tell-tale medical exam. In 1974 it was unacceptable for a pilot to be even slightly colorblind. He has learned to be content with his aberration.