Grasshopper Days and Eagle Ways

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31 KJV).

Little things can so easily dampen my day. While seeking solitude in the yard one frustrating Friday, I soon realized that I was not alone. I felt something crawling on me. I grasped the concealed creature and it spat out a grumpy rebuke. Normally I would have run away screaming, but you cannot escape when between you and your clothes lurks a grasshopper.

A week later a little pink paper appeared in the mailbox. I think of pink as a pleasant color, but not when it bears bad news. The note said that I must sign on the line to receive a letter from the Internal Revenue Service. How could that be good news? When had I ever had to sign anything to be informed that a refund would follow? No, this had to be bad news. I just knew it.

With trepidation, I signed the slip and fretted about what the news could be. I prayed, too, that God would sweeten the sour words threatening to spill out of me; it is so tempting to lapse into grasshopper mode when circumstances refuse to go my way.

I also mentioned in my prayer that if the letter turned out to be anything but bad news, I would be amazed. I would be reminded that my human reasoning so often falls short, that what I see in front of me—in this case, that pink slip of doom—is nothing compared to what God sees.

God sees eternity. He sees that day dampeners can catapult us to Him, can help us realize that without the Holy Spirit, we would be powerless grasshoppers, absorbed in the mundane matters of life. But God invites us to be eagles, to soar heavenward on wings of His glorious grace!

The day after the pink slip’s arrival, I received that certified letter of badness from the IRS. It announced that a request I had made a few months earlier had been granted. That was it. Not bad news, only news that I needed to know for tax purposes. My logic had fallen flat yet again, and I marveled at the amazing ways of God.