The Swans
By Vernette Kureck
“Which of you
fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a
scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask Him?”
Luke 11: 11-12
“Lord,
it would be the end of a perfect summer if I could just see those swans.” That
was my lament last autumn on a colorful, sunny day as my husband and I chugged
around Lake Nagawicka for the last boat ride of the season. We had heard that a
family of swans had taken up residence on the lake, but we had never seen them.
As we approached the entrance to our back channel, lo and behold, there they
were, looking beautiful and majestic in their white plumage. We parked the boat
and I ran down to the other end of the channel so I could enjoy their feeding
frenzy on the duckweed.
This
summer, we have seen the swans every time we went out on the lake…and there are
now three families. Whenever I see them, I am grateful and remember how sweetly
God honored my simple prayer last year. John 14:13 says, “And I will do
whatever you ask in my name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You
may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” In my prayer life, I
have asked God for big things and small things, trusting that His perfect will
be done. Answers have come in the form of “yes,” “no” or “not now.”
Jesus
loves to glorify the Father, the Creator of all the universe. For me to enjoy
those swans was to bring praise to the Father’s workmanship. In the context of
the above Scripture, Jesus is teaching that the presence of the Holy Spirit in
a believer’s life is far more important than receiving material blessings. The
lesson for me last fall was to see how much the Lord was aware of my desires
expressed in less-than-ardent prayer form, and His willingness to give me the
good gift: seeing the swans. The lesson this summer - - every time I saw the swans - - was how His
good gifts are multiplied and manifested through the Holy Spirit. My prayer
became the last stanza of an old hymn: “God, who touchest earth with beauty,
make me lovely too. Keep me ever by thy
Spirit, pure and strong and true.”1
GOING
DEEPER
1.
Do you have any natural reminders of answered prayer that lead you to praise
God?
2.
Which “good” gifts have you been focusing on?
FURTHER
READING:
Vernette
and her husband Ken have been married 44 years. They have been blessed with seven
grandchildren from their two sons and their wives. Vernette is Oakwood’s
Financial Secretary.
1 C.Harold Lowden, “God, Who Touchest Earth With Beauty”
