Category: Devotionals

October is almost over. Skies are darker and the weather is rapidly cooling.

Yesterday I stayed indoors, and by suppertime I was in a blue funk. Perhaps God was exasperated with me, but I got his clear message: Go outside and take a walk. Enjoy some fresh air!

I obeyed. The tall trees on our grounds reminded me of how they had weathered storms for decades. Some years brought drought. Yet these trees still lifted their branches up to the heavens. As I walked, however, my funk hung over me reflecting the gray clouds above my head.

Finding a bench, I sat down with my elbows on my knees. What was wrong with me? All I could see were those dark clouds stretching across the horizon, hiding even the smallest patch of blue sky.

I shook my head and stood up. Turning around, I drew in a sudden breath. All the while I sat in my funk, I had missed the beauty behind me: A glorious sunset, filled not with colors but radiant sun, etching the throne of God with glory.

What was wrong with me?

I was looking in the wrong direction!

When each of my grandkids turns ten years old, they come to my home for a week with their grandparents. This week is designed around their special interests, but it also provides a natural opportunity for me to get to know each child outside the context of his or her siblings.

For example, when Josiah turned ten, he loved soccer so we arranged for him to attend a local soccer camp. When Anderson expressed interest in art, we hired an art major to come and be his private tutor for a week. Simeon loves meteorology so we took him to the local TV station to have a private tour by their weather man; he even got to practice doing a report on their green screen!

This year, it was Elliott’s turn. His visit with us was postponed due to my surgeries and COVID. Now, at age 11, Elliott excels in computer languages. My husband had really looked forward to our grandparent week with Elliott because Gene was a computer programmer also. But…Gene died in September. What was I to do?

My computer skills are next to nil. As I thought this over, I realized my soccer skills, my artistic ability, and my knowledge of meteorology were also nil.

Once again, I turned to an outside source. A graduating Messiah University computer science major came to the rescue. Tanner came to talk geek with Elliott for several hours each day. He arranged a field trip to a local computer workshop called Makerspace. The director of the shop gave Elliott a private tour for an hour and a half, showing him the 3-D printers, the laser cutters, and even a robot that is still in design phase but will one day greet each person arriving at the door. Tanner also introduced Elliott to another 11-year-old who is equally excited about computers. My only sadness was that Gene was not there to enjoy the week with us.

At his home, Elliott has always been quiet, in the background reading a book. I hardly knew him, but in our first hours alone, we talked more than we had in the past ten years. Even though I did not understand all the geek talk, I loved to see his skills in computing.

What are your unique skills? Our heavenly Father gave each one of them to you as a gift. He too savors time alone with you, apart from everyone else. Have you spent time with Him today?

When I look in the mirror, some days I see a person who looks pretty good. But other days, I see someone who is far from perfect. Jacob’s oldest son, Reuben, was also a mixed bag.

Good news? Reuben was furious and wanted justice for his sister Dinah when she was raped. Bad news? Just a short time later, he felt it was okay to take his father’s wife to bed!

Good news? When his brothers wanted to kill Joseph, Reuben righteously nixed the plan. Bad news? He later abetted those brothers as they planned a cover-up; for over a decade, Reuben never confessed that Joseph was alive.

Good news? When Joseph demanded that the brothers bring Benjamin to Egypt, Reuben offered up his own two sons as surety for the life of Benjamin. Bad news? When Joseph earlier threw his brothers into prison in Egypt, Reuben passed the buck; he blamed his brothers for not listening to him and thus bringing calamity on the family.

How about you? Are you a mixed bag?

In Leviticus, God asked His people to be a picture of purity: They were not to eat things that had mixed characteristics…creatures that lived in the sea but didn’t swim, things that had wings but did not fly. In Proverbs, the Lord called His people to be just, not using two sets of weights that could cheat others. In Rev. 3, the Lord blasted Laodicea for being neither hot nor cold. He wanted to vomit the lukewarm mixture out of His mouth.

Our God calls you and me to be holy even as He is holy. Why? Because we are made in the image of God and, as ones who carry His image, we ought to reflect His pure character to the world. We cannot mix justice with injustice, purity with impurity, love with hate.

As we begin the season of Lent, take some time for self-examination. Where do you find elements in your character that distort people’s understanding of God’s nature? Name those areas, confess them. Then, and only then, can God’s Holy Spirit restore your character into the image of His perfect Son, Jesus Christ. Now, that’s good news!

After spending last month looking at the topic of hope, we all are now “hoping” for a better New Year. Last year at this time, we had no idea of all the tumult 2020 would bring. For me, those next 12 months involved recovering from three major spinal surgeries, followed by the loss of my husband. I thought that was enough for any one year.

Then in November, the night before my birthday, I took a dramatic fall as I tripped over a rug and catapulted myself through the bathroom doorway to land on the cold tile floor. All the air was knocked out of my lungs. My first thought was that I had fractured both ankles. I also worried whether I had just destroyed all the hard work my surgeon had done correcting issues with my spine. Shaken, I grabbed the door jamb and pulled myself up to a sitting position. When that went well, a few minutes later I inched myself to a standing position. I discovered in amazement that I could stand. My ankles were not broken, just ligaments stretched.

With the help of my walker, I hobbled out to the kitchen and got several ice bags from the freezer door. I sat down on the couch, placed an ice pack on each ankle and held another on my forearm which was also promising a large bruise. As my heart returned to a more normal pace, I began to smile. And then laugh. How many times have I told my students that our God is a God of surprises? Here I thought the last month of 2020 would be smooth sailing, that the worst was behind me. Yet God had just provided one more surprise.

Not all his surprises are full of trauma. Every year I ask God for a special Christmas gift just from him to me. This year he gave me three! One was the joy of seeing my neighbor recover from COVID. Another was seeing my mother, at age 93, return home from a trip to the hospital after testing negative for the virus. And the third? Well, that one I’ll keep secret for now. I think God is still putting the icing on the top.

As for 2021? We have no guarantees about the coming year. All we know for certain is that our God will be full of surprises!