Pilgrim Reflections

On tulips, tombs and towers

Wherever you go in this world, there’s one thing that always the same: God’s presence and love for us.

During my recent deployment to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, I had the opportunity to visit some places on my free weekends. So, one Saturday we drove up to the city of Kukenhof in the Netherlands to attend the annual tulip festival.

I’d never seen so many tulips in my life! Acres and acres of them. Red ones. Yellow ones. Pink ones. White ones. Orange ones. They were beautiful, and I marveled at this cooperative effort between our creator and the ones who manage his tulips for him.

After leaving the festival, we ate an early supper along the North Sea. What a beautiful sight with its sandy beaches and shimmering water. Then, the next morning we traveled down to Belgium to an antique show and bought a few souvenirs.

As we traveled there and back, I marveled at the beauty of God’s creation. The rolling hills were living testimonies of his handiwork and creative ability. And, it also reminded me that we, too, are his unique creations that need his special touch and sustenance if we are to “blossom” like the tulips.

The next weekend, we headed over to visit the Schonburg castle on the Rhine River in western Germany. What a treat it was to venture into this massive structure, which has stood for hundreds of years, and to think of all the battles that’d been fought in that area.

The next day we traveled over to the U.S. cemetery in Hamm in the small country of Luxembourg, where the body of General George S. Patton is buried. Truly, it was a moving experience to walk among the hundreds of rows of white crosses which marked the graves of those soldiers who’d fallen in battle—the majority of them only 19-22 years old. I left there with a deeper sense of gratitude for the freedoms we so often take for granted in this country.

My final weekend, I joined a USO trip to Paris for one day. We got to see the Eifel Tower and go through Notre Dame. We also took a boat ride on the Seine River that night and marveled at this city which has played such an important role in world history.

As we boarded the bus for Landstuhl, I once again gave thanks to the Lord for the opportunity to have visited these various places. Truly, it was the experience of a lifetime, and I wish everyone would have the opportunity to experience it.

However, we don’t have to travel halfway around the world to marvel at God’s handiwork or give thanks for the simple pleasures of life. Instead, we must simply ask him to open our eyes to the “burning bushes” that are all around us—and to savor them as we are “still and know that he is God” (Psalm 46:10).

In fact, how long has it been since you stopped and smelled the roses where you live? How long has it been since you sent a thank-you note to someone for having touched your life in a special way?

That long, huh?

Why not take some time out today, dear Reader, to stop and count the various ways God has blessed you? And, why not make it a point to do something nice unexpected for someone? Just be prepared for them to possibly have a heart attack when you do!!

Life’s too short to live it with regrets, resentment or bitterness. Hold lightly the things you cherish most and “in all things give thanks—for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18). God bless you.

NOTE: If you’d like to contact Bro. Tom or receive his daily e-mail devotional, “Morning Manna,” write him at P.O. Box 582, Coushatta, LA 71019 or e-mail at pressingon@hotmail.com.

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