All in Encouragement

If

The word “If” is a tiny word with big meaning. In my Bible, it’s near the top of a passage dubbed “The Believer’s Triumph.” Paul used it when he posed what seemed to be a rhetorical question. Paul just explained the amazing gift of salvation God offered through the sacrifice of His Son. He also taught about the role of the Holy Spirit in believers’ lives. He then concluded, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Rather than a question, Paul actually stated a fact! God isfor us, and He proved it by sending His Son and His Holy Spirit.

Welcome!

My daughter witnessed a rare moment—a cow returning to the herd with her newborn calf. The expectant mother had wandered off the evening before to give birth privately in the scrub brush. As dawn broke, the pair stood alone under a tree. The yearlings wandered up first. They circled the calf in curious amazement. Even though the mother tried to stay between them and her baby, she was outnumbered. Each simply wanted a sniff and appeared to say, “Welcome to the herd!” When the rest of the cows arrived, the calf was apparently overwhelmed with joy. It left its mother and eagerly greeted each cow one-by-one. It seemed to ask, “Will you be my friend?”

Keep it Together

Forgive me for taking this verse a wee bit out of context, but I was at my wits end. I did not think I could keep it together. Then, while reading through the small book of Colossians, these words, “by him all things hold together” immediately jumped out at me.

Blessing Overflow

I knew the holiday season would prove difficult for my mother. She had moved into an assisted living facility in the midst of the COVID plague and could only receive visitors through a plexiglass wall. There would be no family Christmas gathering for her.

Look What Is Under the Tree: Day 4

The other day our youngest granddaughter and I were visiting about her upcoming birthday party. I asked her who would be at her party and she named several children from her kindergarten class, none of whom I knew. To make conversation, I asked her to tell me about them. A couple of half-hearted answers later, she said, “Don’t tell anybody, but I like the presents more than people.” Words spoken with a six year-old’s honesty, but a sentiment we can all relate to. Who doesn’t like presents?

Look What Is Under the Tree: Day 3

I don’t know about you, but my childhood Christmases weren’t all teddy bears and ballet slippers. It was also the season when practical needs came wrapped in holiday paper. One item I could pretty much count on to make an annual appearance under the tree was a new scarf.

Pruning for Purity

All summer long, my backyard rose bush produces hundreds of pink roses. I notice that it blooms and then most of the roses die about the same time. With my garden shears, I cut away the spent blooms. I imagine it sighing and saying, Thank you. Now I have room to grow and bloom all over again.

Painful Plowing

Trials are hard. They’re messy. They’re down right painful. Do you feel blessed when you experience them?

For eight years, I drove by the same field. There were weeds growing, and the grass looked unhealthy and sparse. One day, as I drove by, I noticed a tractor driving over the grass with sharp circular blades cutting through the hard, cracked, dry ground turning the soil. How painful that must be for the ground, I thought.

Refined as Gold

Do you know how precious metals are refined? Smelting is the process in which gold is separated from ore and other metals. The ore is first pulverized with extreme pressure to create tiny particles, which are then melted at almost 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. As the gold becomes molten, most of the impurities are burned up.

Trials Like Fire

No matter how you slice it, life is full of challenges. Each hardship represents some sort of loss; loss of a person, home, safety, stability, or purpose. This is why these experiences can be so painful.

Rescuer of Pit Dwellers

Praise the Lord! He rescues us from the pit! I don’t know about you, but I have been in the pit many times throughout my life. Sometimes it’s sin that throws us into the pit, however, sometimes it is circumstances out of our control that throw us head-long into it.

Let Your Words Be Few

Once my daughter and a friend of hers got into a little disagreement. As I asked the girls what the problem was, each girl began telling her side of the story . . . simultaneously. When they realized that neither was backing down, each girl spoke louder and louder. My son was standing right beside me, and his observation was, "That's too many words!" I laughed and had to agree.

Rest

The trio is back…the mother, the father and their fledgling Cardinals. They regularly visit the platform bird feeder. I like to study their interactions. The fledgling softly chirps while fluffing and vibrating his feathers. Mom and Dad gather seed and pop it into his mouth until the ritual is complete. The youngster looks completely capable of feeding himself. After all, he’s standing among the same birdseed as his parents! Like me, though, he prefers to be fed rather than feed himself.

Who am I?

At first his eyes were wide with fright as he hid behind our little hinny, a cross between a male horse and a female donkey. His odd head and tail confused me when he first showed up in our pasture. His owner retrieved him multiple times, but finally just gave up since this odd-looking animal had claimed our hinny and her pasture as his home.