Frozen Koi

Our new home came with a koi(fish) pond/fountain - not something we had ever dreamed of having. It's pretty, a little loud, so okay. We started out with three koi, then one day Peter found one dead in the bushes. A couple of days later, we had a visit (I suspect not the first) from a huge Blue Heron. He was eyeing our two remaining koi, with a lake full of fish not two blocks away. After taking a few pictures, we shooed him away.

Then, our home and many others around us became a frozen, snowy wonderland. The pond froze! Now, not knowing what to do for the koi, we tried keeping it ice-free; that didn't work. So I resigned myself to have dead koi in the spring thaw. I don't have good luck with fish, having boiled (a heater malfunction) my fish tank "pets", many years ago. I didn't want these koi, but still thought of them everyday and kind of hoped for the best.

The weather has broken, snow and ice are gone, and in spite of everything - we still have the two koi. I promise not to boil these two, I promise not to get too attached - how long do koi live anyway? I do promise to remember this as an example of God protecting His creations and showing me that worrying doesn't help - we just have to let go.

Psalm 95

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;

    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before him with thanksgiving

    and extol him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God,

    the great King above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth,

    and the mountain peaks belong to him.

The sea is his, for he made it,

    and his hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us bow down in worship,

    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

for he is our God

    and we are the people of his pasture,

    the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,

“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,

    as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,

where your ancestors tested me;

    they tried me, though they had seen what I did.

 For forty years I was angry with that generation;

    I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,

    and they have not known my ways.’

 So I declared on oath in my anger,

    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

Psalm 79

 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;

    they have defiled your holy temple,

    they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

They have left the dead bodies of your servants

    as food for the birds of the sky,

    the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.

They have poured out blood like water

    all around Jerusalem,

    and there is no one to bury the dead.

We are objects of contempt to our neighbors,

    of scorn and derision to those around us.

How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?

    How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

 Pour out your wrath on the nations

    that do not acknowledge you,

on the kingdoms

    that do not call on your name;

for they have devoured Jacob

    and devastated his homeland.

Do not hold against us the sins of past generations;

    may your mercy come quickly to meet us,

    for we are in desperate need.

Help us, God our Savior,

    for the glory of your name;

deliver us and forgive our sins

    for your name’s sake.

 Why should the nations say,

    “Where is their God?”

Before our eyes, make known among the nations

    that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.

May the groans of the prisoners come before you;

    with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.

 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times

    the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord.

 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,

    will praise you forever;

from generation to generation

    we will proclaim your praise.