Yes, the swans are back. They’ll only be here a few days before they go…someplace else. I don’t actually know where they go from here, I just know that every year at this time they return to the temporary pond across from our house for a few precious days. I look forward to their return, it announces spring to me. I don’t know what draws them here year after year, but they always come back. Every year I watch for them and just as I begin to despair that they may not return, there they are.

This month I have been experiencing technical difficulties that have kept me from my appointed social networking rounds. The rains have rendered the road to our house difficult to pass, keeping potential buyers from visiting. A new part time job has decreased the time I can devote to other tasks crying for my attention. The temptation to look at my circumstances instead of God’s faithfulness has at times overtaken me. Then yesterday, as I returned home from a wonderful writer’s conference, I approached our driveway, looked to my left, and there they were. The swans were back. Why did I doubt? It is their nature to return, they will always return. It may not be exactly when I think they should, or when I expect, but they will return.

Have you ever allowed your circumstance to obscure your view of Jesus? I have. But I am changing. I am learning to return my focus to who He is, rather than on my circumstances or what I think He should be doing.

Psalm 91 tells us: “His faithfulness shall be your shield and bulwark.”

We can depend on His faithfulness. We can count on it, trust it, believe it, rely on it, bank on it. He may not answer us when we want Him to or the way we think He should, but He will always answer. If He doesn’t answer initially, He will always answer eventually. Always. Always. Always. It is who He is, He never changes. What must change? The way I think, the thing upon which I focus.

The Joy of the Lord is my strength. Need joy? Spend time simply ‘being’ in His presence. Don’t do, just be. Love Him, Praise Him, soak in His presence. Like the swans always return, God will always meet you in the secret place of His presence.