About a week ago, I started having a few thoughts about salmon swimming upstream to spawn. (Say what??)
Yeah. And after about the third or fourth time it came to my mind, I finally asked the Lord “What’s up?” (What can I say – it took me while… I’m still learning…)
He impressed upon my heart to look into these creatures who return to their place of birth to give birth. Turns out there’s a number of species who make this trek and it’s called natal homing. Salmon, lemon sharks, sea turtles, Bluefin tuna and to some extent eagles. But why? How?
Scientists have termed this geomagnetic imprinting. Webster defines imprinting as a special type of learning. It’s learning that:
- Occurs during a particular, critical, usually early period of life;
- Effects of it last a long time;
- Effects of it cannot be easily modified.
The earth’s magnetic field varies across the globe, so the geomagnetic imprint in these creatures takes them back to that specific place that resonates in them.
Pretty cool, eh? Is God trying to show us something through these creatures? Or is it just one of those strange nature facts?? I think God gives us physical examples in our earth to understand some neat spiritual things He wants us to grasp.
Let’s look at a pretty familiar passage in Jeremiah. “Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer 1:4-5)
That word “consecrated” also means dedicated, prepared, proclaimed. So before you were born God prepared you for something. Before you were born God dedicated you for something. When we think about these words doesn’t it bring your mind to a person or an event? Think about it… When we prepare something – a meal, a card, a table – it’s because someone’s coming or we’re going somewhere. When we dedicate something we are setting something aside for a specific event or person.
God set you and me aside for a specific event or person(s). What did He prepare you for? Psalms 139:13 says “For You did form my inward parts, You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” When God was knitting you, what He making you for?
God made you for a specific purpose! He prepared you, dedicated you, even proclaimed you to release something in the earth! Something that only you can release or give out because He knit it in you when He made you. Your unique personality and gifts support that special thing He placed inside you to pour out to help other people!
Ok, but what does that have to do with salmon you may ask? We need to get back to God and seek Him! Swim upstream if we have to, but get quiet and alone with the One who made us before we were in the womb! How awesome is that?!! He actually put us all together before the flesh and bone were even involved.
God tells us not to rely on our own understanding (Prov 3:5), so we really need to ask Him about what He’s placed in us and how to nurture it so it can grow. God placed a “geomagnetic imprint” in us when we became believers – it’s the Holy Spirit! He always guides us back to God! Ask Him to show you the way. I mean if you made a bowl to eat soup out of and someone was trying to use it to crack walnuts, what would you be thinking? You created it and you know what you intended it to be used for! What’s God thinking? What did God intend you to be used for?
He’s put it on my heart to write about some of this stuff and share it with you. Stay tuned and let’s see where He leads us on this amazing journey we call life!
Remember you are the only you God made. No one else can take your place and no one else contains the seed or the present that God uniquely placed in you to give to this world. What God placed in you is vital for His kingdom to be established in the earth! Swim!