Tuesday Toss-up (& a rabbit trail)

I received an email from Dayspring Cards today (I guess they send you their sale emails once you sign up to send a free e-card) ... anyway, it had this scripture which I thought was just perfect for Fall... "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:8 (NIV) Isn't that a beautiful promise to us?

One thing I find simply amazing is ... that no matter what the season is, God always has beauty waiting for us... so when the summer grass withers and the spring and summer flowers fall, the leaves begin to turn beautiful colors and dazzle us with an array of breathtaking color! And ... when the leaves fall, and the weather gets very cold, we get to enjoy beautiful icicles dripping from the tree limbs, snow glistening in the fields and capping the mountains like thick fur coats. And, once all that begins to melt away, the bright and fresh green grass pops up, along with the spring flowers. Beauty is everywhere we look, we just have to take the time to discover it! And no matter how gray, wet, cold or overcast this fall or winter might get, God's Word is always there waiting to warm our hearts, open our eyes, and cast a golden glow on everything!

I know I'm going way off track here, but hey ... I am the queen of rabbit trails ... remember ... I'm practicing being a rabazelle. Anyway, imagine that you are Mrs. Noah. First of all ... did you realize she was only referred to as "Noah's wife"? That's just wrong! But, from what I understand, according to Jewish tradition her name is Naamah... but STILL! After putting up with a boat full of stinky animals (ehem ... and humans) for over a year, living on stale, old, food and water, and having to do manual labor to muck stalls and feed all those animals, you'd think that someone, somewhere in the Bible, would at LEAST drop her name here or there! ANYWAY ... Can you imagine the change she faced when they opened the ark's doors? The land that she knew before the flood was gone, and now, she was surrounded by water! What a change! And probably, there were changes in the temperatures, as well many other changes I can't even fathom.

So, I guess we are fortunate in that we know what to expect each season, and we're not tossed around each season in a huge, dark ark with clamoring animals and people everywhere, and no idea what we'll see when the storms are over.

So -- how was that for a rabbit trail? Pretty good, huh? But, I can swing off of that rabbit trail with this (watch me work):

Mrs. Noah must have been a very courageous woman. Her world was turned upside down. Her friends, and probably some family members, perished in the most horrific storm ever to occur. She was mocked and ridiculed, but yet, she had tremendous faith in a time when everything she knew was getting ready to be destroyed. Imagine hearing people's (and animal's) screams as they were drowning? I can only equate it to the horrors of the tsunami of 2004 in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and thousands more were missing and lost. The people that survived the tsunami all have their own horror stories and experiences. Mrs. Noah must have possessed a great strength that can only be found in one who is deeply and spiritually rooted to face such a great storm! She was a Godly wife. A Godly mother. A Godly woman. She was instrumental in saving the human race from extinction, for crying out loud! That's a tall order to fill! She was a woman of courage. A woman of grace. A woman of faith. A woman of strength. And, she had to stand on God's Word for all she was worth in order to survive. After all, he was there for them while they prepared for numerous years, he was there during the storm, and after the storm, he promised he would never bring another storm like that one, and he hasn't! His word stands forever!

Now ... after all that ... I have a Tuesday Toss-up for you ...

How do YOU define "Courage?"

(you thought I was going to ask you a question about the seasons, didn't you?!)