The NextDoor post focused on the threat coyotes pose to our community and neighborhood. More than a neighborly heads-up, it called us to action with meetings and megaphones. The writer proposed the predators should be trapped and relocated.
I found myself siding with the coyotes. After all, weren’t we the ones intruding on their habitat? My home is at the southernmost tip of a peninsula in Florida, where new development runs rampant. More allies than adversaries, it seemed we and the coyotes shared common ground.
Coyotes are part of my everyday landscape. Their yips announce the full moon each month, and I return their vacant stares from a distance as I leave church. We practice a delicate détente. Turns out I’m more at peace with coyotes as neighbors than I am with the encroaching development that displaces families, businesses, and wildlife.
Nearby shopping centers and businesses that have served my community for many years are raised to new life as condos, apartment complexes, and storage centers. While I value familiarity in this season of my life, progress gobbles up precious memories, leaving a trail of loss and longing in its wake. It’s disorienting.
But God’s Word brings comfort, reminding me this world is not my permanent home. We are created for forever. God has planted eternity in our hearts and given us the promise of heaven. And what a promise it is.
Paul writes in the book of Corinthians that heaven is beyond anything we could dare to dream or believe. The wolf will lie with the lamb, and I imagine I will frolic with the coyotes.
Heaven waits to welcome all who believe in the one God has sent. Theologians call it the divine exchange: God’s saving grace for our sins. We have all missed the mark. None of us is righteous—not even one.
But God loved us in our sins and made a way for us to be with Him forever. Jesus is that way. His sacrifice raises us to new life in Him on earth and with Him in eternity. With God, a promise made is a promise kept.
Ensure you believe in the one God sent to pay for your sins.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay and jl1262.)
(For more devotions, visit Christian Devotions.)
Jann Mills is an emerging writer who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida. She enjoys writing devotionals and short stories about experiencing God in everyday life. When she’s not writing, you will find her walking the beach or gardening on her patio. She is the proud grandmother of three awesome grandchildren: Ava, Miles, and Max.