Wednesday 14 December 2011

A Tale of Motherly Love from Mother Nature


The bar is set higher and higher for awesome African game shots that we are privileged to see.
Clinging on for dear life to the side of a vertical cliff, the tiny lion cub cries out pitifully for help.

His mother arrives at the edge of the precipice with three other lionesses and a male. The females start to clamber down together but turn back daunted by the sheer drop.

Eventually one single factor determines which of them will risk her life to save the youngster – motherly love.
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The drama begins: The mother arrives at the edge of the cliff as her son cries out for rescue after being trapped when he slipped
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On the brink: Four lionesses look over the edge before aborting their rescue mission because of the sheer drop

Slowly, agonisingly, the big cat edges her way down towards her terrified son, using her powerful claws to grip the crumbling cliff side.

One slip from her and both animals could end up dead at the bottom of the ravine.
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Just as the exhausted cub seems about to fall, his mother circles beneath him and he is snatched up in her jaws.

She then begins the equally perilous journey back to the top. Minutes later, they arrive and she gives the frightened creature a consoling lick on the head.

The dramatic rescue, captured by wildlife photographer Jean-Francois Largot, was played out in Kenya’s Masai Mara game reserve.

Despite the presence of wardens to deter poachers, day-to-day life for the lions is not without its dangers … as the cub learned the hard way.
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Rescue mission: The mother inches her way down the cliff face to rescue the terrified cub before locking him in her jaws and making her way back up the cliff face
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Motherly love: The mother gives her son a lick to say that all is well in the pride following the drama

HOW AWESOME IS THIS?

God's Rosebud

 
 
A new minister was walking with an older, more seasoned minister in the garden one day.

Feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do, he was asking the older preacher for some advice.

The older preacher walked up to a rosebush and handed the young preacher a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing off any petals.


The young preacher looked in disbelief at the older preacher and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting to know the will of God for his life and ministry.

But because of his great respect for the older preacher, he proceeded to try to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact.

It wasn't long before he realized how impossible this was to do.

Noticing the younger preacher's inability to unfold the rosebud without tearing it, the older preacher began to recite the following poem...



"It is only a tiny rosebud,
 A flower of God's design;
 But I cannot unfold the petals
 With these clumsy hands of mine."

 "The secret of unfolding flowers
 Is not known to such as I.
 GOD opens this flower so easily,
 But in my hands they die."

 "If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
 This flower of God's design,
 Then how can I have the wisdom
 To unfold this life of mine?"

 "So I'll trust in God for leading
 Each moment of my day.
 I will look to God for guidance
 In each step along the way."

 "The path that lies before me,
 Only my Lord and Savior knows.
 I'll trust God to unfold the moments,
 Just as He unfolds the rose."