But, figuratively, He is helping me win battles against temptation, discouragement, anger, and bitterness. Photo by Pixabay on Īnd then God reminds me…”Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.” It’s not that God is literally leading me into the promised land as I go to the grocery store or face a difficult customer at work or walk around the neighborhood. Some days it even feels like a struggle to “arise”, let alone going forth to conquer.
Some days I feel a little like Joshua– facing walled cities, giants, and feeling totally inadequate to the task. Now, forty years later, Joshua was to try again– this time as Moses’ replacement, a new leader for a new generation already prone to complain and rebel. The entire nation was ready to rebel against Moses and even God. About forty years earlier, he had been part of the group of spies sent to scout out the promised land…spies who had come back terrified and discouraged. Joshua had to be experiencing a slight sense of Déjà vu. Yet God repeats the phrase to Joshua, including at last the command to “not be terrified do not be discouraged.”, which indicates that Joshua was close to terror and despair, rather than filled with hope and adrenaline. When I think of being strong and courageous, I don’t usually think of ducklings! I think of hero bodybuilders or armored knights of old…people who are prepared to crush and conquer and face an army. Do not be terrified do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) God tells him several times to “Be strong and courageous.” (Joshua 1:6), “Be strong and very courageous.” (Joshua 1:7), “…be strong and courageous. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them-the children of Israel. Joshua 1:2-3 (NKJV) 2 “Moses My servant is dead. The phrase comes from Tennyson in Idylls of the King, but it is reminiscent of phrases given to Joshua as he prepared to lead the Israelites across the Jordan and into the promised land. A friend of mine once had a poster with an awkward looking duckling– wide-eyed and still fuzzy–with the caption, “Arise, Go Forth, and Conquer!” Photo by Pixabay on If you’ve spotted any wildlife around the forth that intrigued you, I’d love to hear about it – as I’m interested in the most common species, as well as the scarce.I love quirky motivational posters.
Saltmarsh Grass ( Puccinellia maritima) showing stolons and growing habit. Rather than growing up in height, this grass can snake along the ground for up to 80cm.įig 2. A good example is Saltmarsh Grass ( Puccinellia maritima) which can be seen in this photograph displaying small clusters of roots (called stolons) along it’s length. The most obvious plants to watch in this ongoing land-war are the grasses, the coastal specialists have such different growth forms to the landlubbers it makes them easy to spot. I find it amazing to observe the salt-tolerant marsh plants gain a stronger foothold each time the tides bring fresh sea onto the site, while the rough grassland plants are constantly pushing to reclaim lost ground from their patchy higher and drier retreats, taking advantage of any long period of lower tides and fresh, heavy rains. Now, part of the broad Futurescape vision is to turn this site into a working ecological model of how such land can be restored to its natural state which, as a powerful, natural flood defence will benefit humans as well as the abundance of wildlife that depends on saltmarsh habitat. This site was historically part of the large saltmarshes that lined areas of the inner Forth, but over the past 300 years the land has been land drained and claimed for agriculture. The term used in ecology for these groups of species is a community, and of particular interest to me here on the Forth is how different plant communities are waging a slow but perceptible territorial war at the RSPB Skinflats reserveįig 1. A large part of my wonderful job involves identifying and measuring the population size of individual species, however as an ecologist this information is just one step in the process of working out how all the plants, insects, birds and animals interact with one another in one place at one time.
0 kommentar(er)
