A Lion’s Roar

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement
A Lion’s Roar

Our family has always loved the zoo, especially when taking young children. We particularly enjoy the larger zoo animals such as the Lions. At a recent visit to the zoo, we were disappointed to see that the lion was asleep on his back. One of our family members could perfectly mimic the sounds lions make. When this person made a loud roar across the grassy space beyond the fence that separated us, Mr. Lion flicked his tail as if to express his irritation at being awakened. After several “roars” resulting in more tail flicks, the lion turned his head toward us, opened his eyes and answered with a short roar. After our party’s next roar, he turned over, faced us, and answered with a mighty roar of his own. Sound for sound, making eye contact with our roaring member, the lion answered every sound our gentleman made, A long roar followed by two short ones. Then a long roar followed by three short sounds. A long roar all by itself or with varying combinations made it feel very much like a conversation between two lions. The roars went on for a time before he lay back and ignored us. We wondered what messages the Lion was really communicating. On our side we thoroughly enjoyed the exchange whatever it meant. Others with us tried to roar, but Mr. Lion never lost eye contact with our roaring gentleman.

Sometimes when we are praying, we wonder if God hears our attempts to communicate. At other times we feel connected and heard. Sometimes we recognize Him in our thoughts because they reflect His love. We know in our intellect that He cares about us and what concerns us regardless of what we experience with our senses. If we begin our prayer time of with praise, even roars of praise, it helps us focus our attention on our God, we are more likely to feel a meeting of our minds and spirit with Him as we talk to Him.