I have just spent a delightful two weeks with my sister, Joy. Joy is the strong, energetic type who enjoyed a daily run before starting her teaching job. She had recovered well from a total mastectomy due to breast cancer twenty three years ago, and for the last two years had been having regular check ups for polyps in the bowel.

While running early one morning, she noted her foot was hurting. It was still troubling her several days later, so she decided to make an appointment with her doctor. The doctor examined her foot and suggested it would be a good idea to have a routine blood test.

This showed that Joy was anemic, which prompted the Doctor to do a colonoscopy. Wilmas other sister rang with the disturbing news! The colonoscopy revealed Joy had colon cancer and faced the difficult decision to have the whole bowel, or a major part of the bowel removed.

Six weeks after surgery and in between chemotherapy, Joy came to me to recover. I am going to enjoy every day, she said. This has made me appreciate life, as none of us know what is in the future. And enjoy every day we did! During our bush walks the birds seemed to sing louder and sweeter, the moss appeared greener, the trees bigger. To Joy, the mountains were awesome, and the walk along the beach with the feel of the sand between her toes and the clear blue water were described as, just beautiful.

Joy praises God for every new day

As nature came alive and Joy took on a new appreciation of it, I was drawn to this thought for the week.

When men invented flying machines they were noisy, but God made songbirds so they could sing the purest music on earth! (Genesis chapter 1, verse 21)

The sophisticated song mechanism of birds leaves scientists speechless. Birds are such skilled musicians that it often requires someone with a degree in music to fully appreciate their brilliance. Nightingales can have a repertoire of 300 songs stored in their brains! They will often sing 70 songs before they repeat the repertoire again with perfect accuracy. Many birds have absolute pitch, meaning that they can determine exactly what key they sing in without reference to anything like a tuning fork!

Some birds can perform antiphonal singing where two birds alternate notes in a song. This requires knowledge of the duet by both partners and split second timing in the execution of the duet. When human beings do this its considered very skillful and impressive yet birds can accomplish it easily! Since man-made music has an intelligent composer, its perfectly reasonable to assume that birdsong has an intelligent, divine Composer.

Some say that birdsong is only required for communication and mating purposes, but the complexity of their music goes way beyond any simple sounds that would satisfy these needs. We can safely conclude that birdsong was created for our enjoyment and that the dawn chorus was meant to remind us to praise God for every new day! www.thoughtfortheweek.co.uk

It is a reminder to us all isnt it, to stop and enjoy what God has given us to enjoy. Often we are so busy that we fail to stop long enough to listen to and enjoy nature.

By the way, the doctor never found anything wrong with Joys foot. Joy believes God used the foot to get her to the doctor, as they found absolutely no signs that would suggest there was another problem. If she had left it unattended, the outcome would have been worse. She wrote this poem before she flew home:

Cancer is such an ugly word

For me to get it, oh how absurd

But cancer came knocking at my door

And it was quite a shock, thats for sure

But I know that God really loves me

And so from all fear Im set free.

For God has promised to be with me all the time

Even when the mountain is real big to climb

The birds are singing and Im still here

I have great support with the angels near

Im so blessed in so many ways

Ill live life to the fullest till the end of my days

For God has got special plans for me

Hes given me promises so that I can see

That theres hope in the days ahead

So Ive got a purpose to get out of bed!

Joy has found hope and comfort in knowing God really loves her and has her future in his hands. I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace, and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Jeremiah 29:11

None of us knows what tomorrow may bring, but we can be sure of our final outcome. In the movie 'Your Destiny Your Choice', Ryan gave little thought to life after death until he faced death...he was afraid! His sister Nicky comes to visit in hospital and shows him a computer program that could make him sure of his destiny. Will Ryan choose to be sure of his final outcome? You will disover the answer when you download this movie free on my website.