The Birds, Bees and Butterflies!

It is said that Botswana is a bird-watcher's paradise with over 550 species here.

Just in our garden in the few years we have lived here I have spotted over 30 species.

So come, take a Winter's morning stroll in our garden where the birds were abundant this morning.  I counted at least 10 different types of birds and multiples of each of course, in the space of about 15 minutes, essentially all in the trees at the same time - the many different bird-songs together were amazing!  Along with the butterflies and bees everywhere it was a delight of sight and sound! 

Here are some photos of some of them.

The elegant Laughing Dove

The delightful Crested Barbet who looks like he landed in a paint pallet

The Bearded woodpecker hammering away at a frenetic pace!

The tiny Chinspot Batis

An Olive Thrush scratching around in the leaves

And I saved the best till last - with multiple photos to let you see the full scope of his beauty depending on the angle of the light

(yes of course the male is the colourful one!)

White Bellied Sunbird on the right

and below

back view

another back view in different light

Yes that beak is custom designed by the Creator for getting the nectar he loves!

and even though its a terribly blurry photo - I just wanted to show you the stunning blue of the back of his wings and body in flight!

….and below a glimpse of his underside where he has still more brilliance on his throat!

THEN THERE WERE THE BUTTERFLIES…...

AND THE BEES…..

…...AND WATCHING FROM A DISTANCE - THE MONKEYS IN THE TREES!

The Honour of Motherhood

In many parts of the world today is Mother's Day.

It's the specially designated day of the year to honour mothers and motherhood.

But our world is in interesting times…..particularly in the Western World.

We want to honour motherhood but at the same time we are subtly undermining, confusing and destroying motherhood.

• Many women have believed the lie from society that true honour only comes through achieving status and accomplishing goals outside of the home.  Women want a career, and children get squeezed in around it.

• Some women have believed the lie in their own heads and not negated by society that they actually are not a woman and want their bodies to have major external intervention and change via male hormones or gender-reassignment surgery.

• Some men have believed the lie that they can have relations with each other, get a child via surrogacy and donor eggs or adoption, and deprive the child of ever having a mother at all in their lives.

• Millions of women have believed the widespread lie that its ok to kill the baby growing in their body and want to avoid motherhood altogether

• Here in our corner of the world, so many girls get pregnant out of marriage.  Many find a way to get an illegal abortion. Others take the baby back to their village to a grandma and leave the child there, depriving the child of the presence of a mother.

One of the ways I am convinced Satan destoys our world is to not only destroy the family unit structure He designed of mother, father and children together, but to destroy the identity concept of those who make up a family.  He is bent on destroying God's intended honor bestowed on the role and status of 'father' and of 'man' as well as of 'mother' and of 'woman'. Along with the creation of Adam, Eve as woman and mother of all living was part of God's foundational creation blueprint.

In our modern sin-sick Western world we are seeing Satan stealing the true honour of being a woman and of being a mother.

God gave a woman the immense privilege of the possibility of motherhood.  It is an honour that is so often taken for granted and abused, but it is an honour of immense proportions.  (In some ways this has become even more important to me in my context of us being an infertile couple and watching so many others treating the gift of motherhood with carelessness). A mother carries a child within her body for 9 months, then it is her body that births that child and then her body that sustains that child with food for many months after that and she is the primary care-giver for the child until the child leaves home. This is no small role.

A recent article at The Gospel Coalition about Ectogenesis highlighted the further possibilities, with current science, of a woman's loss of even being needed to conceive or carry a child in pregnancy or give birth at all.   This will only further undermine the honor of motherhood as the author of that articles reminds us.

Satan as the eternally shamed one, is 'hell-bent' on destoying the honour of the One who shamed him.  We know the end of the story that there is no escape from eternal punishment and shame for Satan, but he won't go quietly….he will go kicking and screaming, blaming and shaming, stealing and destroying.  He wants to shame God by destroying the honour of what God created and how he created it.  He renames his distortions with the names meant for God's original plan, and calls them 'dignity' or 'equality' or 'tolerance' or 'freedom'. But it is all designed to erode our identity and personhood and true created honour, so that we become a 'nothing'.  Satan fools the world into thinking it is gaining something greater when in fact it is losing everything it was created to be.  

The current eroding of the concept of true male and female gender as defined by how God forms us in the womb, is an attack at the very core nature of who we are and how God created us 'male and female'.   And sadly this is not only a matter impacting the Western world.  An African university student I mentor asked me last time we met 'what's the deal with this whole transgender stuff?'

On this day, lets make the most of it, and celebrate the wonderful uniqueness of womanhood, of being female, of motherhood. Let's make sure we intentionally teach it in our churches, our Sunday School classes, our homes and in every opportunity we have in our neighbourhoods and community as we chat 'over the fence' or 'over the counter'.

We honour mothers today because God first gave honour to being female and being a mother.  Let us not waver or wane in our honour of what God honours. Let us give thanks for the role and blessing of motherhood as God created it to be.

ps………..last but not least let me honour my own mother and mother-in-law today with a link to this article tribute to mothers of missionaries

Can I steal your paperclip?: Things we say...but should we?

In our global, technological and social media world, English is spoken widely. Many African children are speaking English as their first language nowdays. This means that when English is spoken it is likely to be heard far outside our cultural boundaries on an everyday basis. We have to be aware that our spoken English is not only being heard in our neighbourhood, or country. so we need to be careful to think more widely about how and where our words are going to be heard and interpreted….or mis-interpreted.  As Christians, in addition to that we should be wanting our words to be reflective of godliness.  We have to weigh our words against a Scriptural Standard.

But like all of life, it is easy to be molded by our culture more than Christ.  Instead of 'taking every thought captive unto Christ' we speak before we think, say the first thing that comes to our minds, and speak without thinking etc etc.

Living cross-culturally in a context where I don't need to know a totally different language in order to live (although sometimes it's helpful), has meant I have become more acutely aware of how 'English-ified' the world has become. But though 'English-ified, it is not with all the same 'English'!  I intereact with Australian, American, British, and South African 'first language' English Speakers day-in-day-out as well as many, many more versions of English spoken by 'second language' English speakers.  Even within such 'English' speaking contexts there is a great deal of room for mis-understanding.

But there is a greater concern on my mind and heart, in how we use our English words.

For some reason we seem to find it all too easy to use words in ways they were not meant to be used. It can be for purposes of nuances of humour, or to be trendy, or just because it has become culturally 'ok'.

What about these examples?

"Can I 'steal' your paperclip"

- do you really mean 'steal' or do you mean borrow, or do you simply need to ask if the person would be willing to give something to you?

"I happily accept 'bribes'"

On Jerry Jenkins blog - guest blogger Dr Dennis E Hensley, director of the professional writing program at Taylor University said about having a writing mentor:

I am eager to hear what you have accomplished, where you're headed, and why you feel I might be of help. Also, like most mentors, I'm open to bribes.☺As my friend, author and editor Lin Johnson, tells students at my college, "It's always nice to send a nice thank you letter to editors—and chocolate."

- is it a bribe or is it saying thankyou?  A bribe is something you give before the event and for the purposes of trying to induce the person to do something they are not required to do, or they shouldn't do because it is wrong and if they were found out they would be in trouble. Giving a gift of your freewill after an event, with no expectation put on you of size or amount, as an expression of your gratitude and appreciation, is something entirely different. Neither is a genuine reward offered following good service, a bribe. Bribery is done with the purpose of hiding it from general view, thankfulness and reward is done openly in full general view.

"What's the latest 'gossip'?"

- do you really mean to say 'what is the latest news?' Gossip is information that is slanderous, or uncesessary,  or destructive, or untrue?  Sharing wholesome news such as the news of the birth of a friend's baby is not gossip.

"That was one really 'wicked' apple pie" (meaning good)

- again do you mean 'wicked' or 'good'? Just because some portions of society find it popular and 'hip' or 'trendy' to use opposites to describe something doesn't mean it is helpful or wise especially when we are referring to such basic elements related to God who is good, and Satan and man's sinful hearts that are wicked.  We don't want to be calling something wicked that is actually good.

"I am so 'jealous' of you going on your trip"  (or envious) 

- Are you really jealous or envious (maybe you are and you need to deal with that at a heart level of repentance), or maybe you are just wanting to say how thrilled you are for the person to be going on the trip as it sounds so wonderful? It's ok to rejoice with those who rejoice, but its not ok to be covetous/envious/jealous.

- using the words 'jealous' or 'envy' is not a good idea as it both conveys a wrong meaning as well as actually stirring up a slant in our hearts that is more of a coveting nature than a 'happy for you' nature. One helps our hearts focus on God and others, while the other hinders our hearts from focusing where they should and pushes our hearts to focus on ourselves.

"I'm so 'proud' of you"

- Is it ever right to be 'proud'?  Are you truly proud in such a situation or more 'happy' or 'pleased' or 'honoured' or 'thankful'?  Is there another word you should be using? Like with 'envy', the use of a word that has strong association with an attitude that is condemned in Scripture again and again, is not necessarily the best use of words.  It's 'culturally normal' but is it necessary or godly?  God says He opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.

What other ones can you think of?  I'd love to hear from you in the comments below….

Watching our words is hard work. In fact it can be mentally exhausting! But its part of 'working out our salvation', and 'striving' and 'taking every thought captive unto Christ'. 

It's easy to believe the Christian life is about other cultures needing to change, but we have to be willing to look at our own cultural ways……and be prepared to change…..and be prepared to be ridiculed or shamed for making the effort to be careful with our words! But our effort is not in our own strength...Christ is the strength of our labour and the source of our strength. 

How about you?  Are you willing to take up the challenge to watch your words and walk worthy of your Saviour?