Yesterday our favorite neighbor (sorry John and Jim : – ) Mary Lou, walked over to confirm we had not decided to stay permanently in Northern Ireland. The absence of blog posts (it’s been 21 days), and her sense that we were ‘having too much fun’, made her anxious that we would not be coming back to Robbinsdale :- ) We reassured her that were indeed back and the blogs would resume!
Marylou features in the upcoming documentary about Rivendel. Here is the trailer. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CPJ6ZmVHuyv/
I had early yesterday morning got ‘the nod’ to continue the blogs from Dad when I was on a bike ride and took the above photo. You might remember in the last blog as I walked our Newtownabbey cloister there were a number of heron sculptures reflecting the real birds often visible beyond the wall at the end of the garden on the Lough shore. I talked about how that home we were loaned for three weeks was on ‘the other side of the tracks’ from ‘our side’ of Belfast.
Now here was another heron, literally, ‘on the other side of the (railway) tracks’ – in Minnesota……. time to write the next chapter in this blog series!
Encountering the heron was in fact much more dramatic than the photo conveys, because just as I rounded the corner several other of these birds which had been standing at the same spot, took off. In fact I counted 6 of them! So 7 in all!!
This reminded me of 7 meetings Father had orchestrated while in Northern Ireland which I will share about in this series.
The number 7 represents Completion**
I was pondering this as I turned another corner….. and this scene greeted me!
I just captured the little chap’s final leap that brought him safely up to the same level as his mummy and siblings! He had been jumping, jumping, desperately jumping, while I had been pulling out my camera phone!
I shot again as they moved on.
Yes, you can indeed count 7 little ducklings.
So 777
The heron seems to represent wisdom and transformation We certainly need God’s wisdom for the transformation that we are in.
…..and the ducklings? Well mummy duck reminds me of the good shepherd who left the 99 to go and find the one that had been lost. Unfailing love that never gives up until the job is complete, and all are safely gathered in : – )
I plan to follow this ‘jet lag’ blog up with more substance this coming weekend.
**Seven (zayin)
Completion, Spiritual Perfection
Zayin is a weapon in Hebrew. The perfect weapon is the Sword of the Spirit, by which spiritual warfare is accomplished, for “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal ” (2 Cor. 10:4).
Seven is the biblical number of completion and spiritual perfection. As such, Psalm 7 speaks of the two floods by which the earth is cleansed and brought to the perfect order of the Kingdom.
Seven days completes a Sabbath cycle. In Rev. 10:7 the mystery of God is finished when the seventh angel blows his trumpet. In Rev. 16:17 “it is done” when the seventh angel pours out the seventh vial into the air. It took seven days to consecrate Aaron and his sons to the priesthood (Lev. 8:31-35) before emerging from the tabernacle on the eighth day. Joshua and the Israelite army had to march around Jericho seven days (Joshua 6:15) before the city fell.