Last summer while walking in the forest we found a teddy bear sitting in a tree. We wondered how he got into the woods. It is difficult to imagine a small child dropped him there because it is not a place a small child would be unless he or she was with an adult and surely the adult would retrieve something as important as a lost teddy bear. The only semi-rational thing I could come up with is a dog picked it up in a yard and transported it.
I will never know for sure. Well, this afternoon, an entire year later, we saw a brown lump under a tree and sure enough it was the teddy. He survived an entire year out there without having a raccoon, a skunk or a porcupine rip him to shreds. We had snow cover from mid-November until mid-April. All that time he must have slept under the snow. He does look a bit worse for the wear.
But then we all look a bit worse for the wear of another year. And we did not spend the year outdoors under the snow. There is more gray hair, a few more wrinkles and heavier bags under our eyes. It is a bit more difficult to retrieve names of people we have not seen for years. However, this is all temporary. There is a wonderful promise in Revelation 21:5. Jesus says, “Behold I make all things new.” “All things.” That means us. We get all new parts this time manufactured to never wear out or break. It is such a grand promise.
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 13, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453