I’ve been getting
ready for our Easter meal and toward that end, I’m making nests.
I decided to do a
repeat of last year and pull out my mother’s Desert Rose china for Easter, but this
year instead of using the white chocolate rabbits on the plates, I’m making nests
of chow mein noodles, marshmallows, and butter.
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| Last Year's Table |
While shaping
these, I kept thinking of a quote in my book, Give My Love to the
Chestnut, which was set on Saint Simons Island and included references to
the vast marshes surrounding the island. The poet Sydney Lanier wrote, “As the
marsh hen builds her nest on the watery sod, I will build me a nest on the
greatness of God.”
This Holy week
leading up to Easter is a time to think on the greatness of God, for it is God’s
great purpose to save the world that culminates in Jesus’ resurrection on Easter
morning. Revelation says Jesus was “slain from the foundation of the world.” From
the beginning God had this plan.
Even this past week, I
was reading in Genesis, and these words leaped out at me—when Jacob was
blessing his sons, he came to Judah and said, “The scepter will not depart form
Judah nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until he to whom it belongs
shall come and obedience of the nations shall be his”(Genesis 49:10). This, of
course, refers to Jesus and it would take pages to note the additional Biblical
references pointing to the Savior long before he made his appearance on earth.
So, when we speak
of building our nests on the greatness of God, I believe it means we have to establish
our foundations on the truth that God is everything. David once prayed, “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty
and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is
yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head
over all . . . “(I Chronicles 29:11).
This thought is echoed by Sydney Lanier who went
on to say, “Like to the greatness of God is the greatness within the range of
the marshes, the liberal marshes of Glynn.” Those vast marshes only hint at how
big and how magnificent our God is.
It is humbling and should make us drop to our
knees in praise and adoration.
Yes, I am building my little chow mein nests, but
I am also thinking of my spiritual nest and being made into someone who can be
used by this One who has sacrificed His only Son for me.
During this Holy week, I pray for each of us time
to reflect on the greatness of God, and where we are building our nests,
May each of you have a blessed Easter.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one
and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life” (John 3:16).
Here’s a link for those little nests.
Beverly Varnado is the author of several small town romances from Anaiah Press including her latest, A Season for Everything. All are available at Amazon. A memoir, Faith in the Fashion District, from Crosslink Publishing is also available as well as her other books, Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees and Home to Currahee. She also has an Etsy Shop, Beverly Varnado Art.
To explore the web version of One Ringing Bell, please visit bev-oneringingbell.blogspot.com
Beverly Varnado copyright 2022