Author: Wendy

A Life that Points to God

Posted on by Wendy
There are many ways to live a life that points to God. How are you doing?
There are many ways to live a life that points to God. How are you doing?

One of my favorite children’s books is, “The Tale of Three Trees.” It’s a picture book that is derived from an old folktale and is retold by Angela Hunt. The story is about three little trees standing on a mountaintop and the dreams they had for their lives. One tree wanted to hold treasure. One wanted to be a strong ship to carry kings and one simply wanted to stand on that same mountaintop and grow as tall as possible, so that people would look at her, “raise their eyes to heaven and think of God.” She wanted to be the tallest tree in the world.

The years went by and the trees grew. One day, some men with axes came and cut each one down. The first was made into a feed box for smelly, dirty livestock. The second was made into a small fishing boat that carried nets full of stinky fish. The third was cut into plain old strong beams and left in the lumberyard.

More years went by and the trees had all but forgotten their dreams. Does this remind anyone of any adults you know? Then one night a newborn baby was placed in that feed box and that tree knew that it had held treasure after all, the greatest treasure ever.

The little boat was caught in a storm and it was full of people and a sleeping man. The tree that made it thought it would sink for sure, but the man woke up and said, “Peace” and the storm quieted immediately. The little tree knew he was in fact, carrying the King of all kings.

And when the third tree whose only dream was for people to look at her and see God, was snatched out of the woodpile and made into a cross, one Friday afternoon, she was devastated. Where had she gone wrong? All she had wanted to do in life was stand straight and tall and point to God. But, on Sunday morning, she knew. When Jesus was resurrected and the miracle and joy of Easter became known, she became a symbol of God’s love for the entire world. People would always look at her and think of God.

I just love that story on so many levels. I love that the little boat totally believed it was a goner until Jesus uttered one word, “Peace” There have been times in my life where I have felt like that little boat, like all was lost. Perhaps you have too? Sometimes the storms may seem impossible, but when we look to Jesus and let him whisper that one word, all can be well with our souls.

Most of all, I love that those trees had so many plans for their lives that they believed were perfect, but God’s plans were different and so much better. I can see so much of myself in this story. Can you? It’s those times when we think we have been completely derailed that grace seems to shine the brightest and the new plan is beyond our wildest expectations.

God’s hands were all in their story, just as His hands are in ours. The big difference is that the trees didn’t have a choice. We do. Are we willing to let God make us into something amazing or do we continue to do things our way? Are we living  lives that point to God? The choice is ours.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Sharing Light

Posted on by Wendy
Ever notice how precious the light is when you are feeling lost?
Ever notice how precious the light is when you are feeling lost?

On a recent walk that I took, I couldn’t help but notice that the light was particularly stunning. Maybe it was because it was a perfect fall day or maybe it was because I was feeling really down. Since I’m normally a very happy and enthusiastic person, being down is quite tough on me.

But, I found unique and beautiful light in every photo I snapped that day. Even the shadows turned out to be cool and interesting. Now, I’m no photographer, but I do know that light is very important when taking photos. I also know that when I truly seek light, I usually find it and that day was no exception.

I find that light is very important in life as well. We all have the opportunity to be a light to someone who may be in a moment or even a season of darkness. From little e-mails or short texts to quick notes on Facebook. In the age of technology, it really doesn’t take a lot of effort to provide some light for a friend. I know for me, quick little notes of support mean the world and I have been blessed with lots of friends who generously send them.

I had someone tell me today that she had me on her mind all weekend. Have you ever had someone on your mind for no reason at all? I have found that there really is a reason and it’s usually good to touch base with that person. God has a way of interconnecting us with one another and so often we know just the right thing to say to that person on our minds.

We have to be careful to take quiet time and be in regular prayer so that we don’t miss an opportunity to reach out. When we get an urge to call or contact someone, who may need a little encouragement or perhaps an ear, we need to just do it. These are little acts of obedience that not only help us to help each other, but also allow us to grow closer to God and align with His will.

I find when I’m obedient with the small nudges, like sending someone a note or calling them, I start to feel more in tune with larger nudges and callings.

I suppose it’s like the parable of talents in Matthew 25. Two of the servants who were given talents or coins, who went and did something productive with them, were rewarded. “His master replied, ‘Well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!'” Matthew 25:21

Don’t we all want to be the good and faithful servant? There are many ways to share faith, to share the love of God, to share the grace of Jesus. But, something super easy is to share some light. So next time you feel the urge, send the note or make the call. I’m trying to be really good at doing that, because the other day, when I was down, I felt the love and light of friends in a flood and it was awesome. God is good!

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Still Standing

Posted on by Wendy
There is nothing left of the house, but the chimney is still standing.
There is nothing left of the house, but the chimney is still standing.

I had a really hard day yesterday. My hubby and I had to make a really difficult, but necessary decision. I shared it with some of my heart sisters at church. Everyone who is a Christian is a brother or sister in Christ, but there are some of those people who share a very special place in my heart. I think of them as heart sisters. I can always be honest with them and share my true self. They don’t always expect a plastered on smile. They are the ones who hand me a tissue when I get teary.

They were supportive as I knew in my heart they would be and sad too. They are gifts from God. The really cool the thing about these women is that I don’t have to see them or talk to them often to feel the special bond I have with them. I would love to see them more, but it’s not required. It’s a friendship that has to be forged by our faith.

I never really gave the heart sisters bond that much thought before today. I love them. I love to see them. I’ve always felt close to them, but I never gave the why that much thought. We would probably have never even met each other if it hadn’t been for our church.

Later in the afternoon, my hubby and I decided to take a walk at the Botanical Gardens. I have always found that being out in nature is balm for a hurting soul. Creation is after all, God’s cathedral and it was a stunning day outside, one of those days that you want to give special thanks for, with low humidity, a light breeze and a deep blue sky. For some reason, our teenagers decided to join us. I’m smart enough to know that teens wanting to spend any time with their parents is also a gift from God.

Somehow, we got on a trail that we hadn’t been on before and an hour or so planned stroll, turned into a close  to three hour, seven mile walk. We did stop often to take pictures and enjoy the scenery, but towards the end, we wondered if we would have to camp out. We were exhausted and lost. Would the trail ever reach its destination?

Somewhere near the end, we ran upon this old chimney. It had once been part of a house. There was nothing left of the house. It was surrounded by trees and weeds and wilderness, but the chimney stood proudly, perfectly intact. I couldn’t help but snap a photo. It reminded me of the heart sisters bond.

It doesn’t really matter where we are or how often we see each other, the bond is strong and sturdy like the chimney. It still stands. I find that comforting. When relationships are forged by God, they will stand the test of time and the elements because they are blessed. Certain people are put in our spiritual lives for a reason only God knows, but I sure am thankful for them. The trail did eventually end as all trails and journeys do, and as usual, God had given me food for thought while I was out in nature, seeking Him. I suspect getting lost was part of His plan all along. I would have never seen the chimney otherwise.

Have you ever given much thought to heart sisters or brothers? I’ll bet if you do, some will come to mind. If they do, say a prayer of thanks; they are a special gift.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Are We There Yet?

Posted on by Wendy
God's majesty is present in every sunrise.
God’s majesty is present in every sunrise.

Anyone who has ever traveled with young children has heard the famous words, “Are we there yet?” Children are usually very impatient to get to where they are going. But, truthfully, aren’t we all? We can’t wait to grow up. We can’t wait to get married. We can’t wait to have kids. We can’t wait for our kids to get a little older and the list goes on and on.

I was just reading the Exodus account of God calling Moses to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. They had been in Egypt for 430 years. The group that started from Joseph and his eleven brothers and their families had grown to 600 thousand men and that didn’t even take into account women and children. They had become slaves to the people who their ancestors had saved. The text says, “Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.” Exodus 1:8

The Egyptians may had forgotten about Joseph saving them with God’s special gifts, but God had not forgotten. He never forgets His people or His promises. He told Abraham centuries before that He would give them the land flowing with milk and honey. So, God calls Moses to lead them home, but first they have to get out of Egypt.

Imagine the Israelites’ wonder and surprise, when Moses tells them that God is going to lead them home. Here’s the part where I’m thinking He should just have them click their heels together like Dorothy in the, “Wizard of Oz.” Tell Pharaoh to let the people go and if he refuses, then just strike him down. I mean, God has that power. I’ll bet they too, had something easier and speedier in mind. Isn’t that our human nature?

Well, Moses tells Pharaoh to let the people go and he refuses and then he makes the Israelites work even harder. And God rains down ten plagues on the Egyptians. He turned the Nile to blood, sent frogs, flies, gnats and locusts. He killed cattle and sent hail and covered the land in pitch black for three days. He covered the Egyptians with boils, but Pharaoh would not relent. Then He killed all of the firstborn sons of the Egyptians and at last, Pharaoh chased them out. (at first)

But, I wonder what all of the Israelites were thinking when this was happening. Were they in complete awe of God’s power? Were they frightened? Were they growing in faith with each plague that missed them and got the Egyptians or were they just desperate to get home already?

While we can be completely fascinated with God’s awesome show of power in this story, these desperate, tired people just wanted to go home to a place where they were free to worship, a place that had been promised to them centuries before. I wonder about the Red Sea parting and the manna falling. They had to have been amazed at God’s glory, but they also had to have been anxious for a place to call home.

I wonder how often we miss small miracles all around us in our desperate quest to get to where we are going. How often to we miss God’s wonder and majesty? It’s so easy to get focused on some future goal or place that we miss the manna in our lives. God’s majesty is ever-present. In sunsets and sunrises in the flowers of spring and the leaves of fall in each first breath of a newborn baby, His fingerprints are there.

The God of Joseph and Moses is our God. His power is just as awesome as it was back in Moses’ day. He never changes. Let’s never forget who He is and what He does everyday. Let’s try to enjoy the ride and stop asking, “Are we there yet?”

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Danger of a Slow Leak

Posted on by Wendy
It's hard to believe that something so tiny can cause so much trouble.
It’s hard to believe that something so tiny can cause so much trouble.

I had just dropped my daughter off at school, when my cell phone rang. I mean, I wasn’t even out of the high school parking lot. I knew it was my daughter because she has her own ring tone. I quickly answered and she informed me that the girl riding in the car behind us told her that one of my back tires was almost flat. Fabulous!

I drove really slowly all the way home. I hadn’t had a shower yet. No way was I going to the tire place looking like I did. Now my mama is enjoying a little snicker as she reads this, because she has always refused to leave home without her makeup on, even if it meant getting up at 5:00 AM. I, alas, haven’t followed in her footsteps.

When I got home, it looked pretty low. I was really kicking myself at this point because I knew it looked low, like a week ago, but I kind of ignored it. I hadn’t had time to get to the tire place and the car was running just fine, so I put it out of my mind. Therein lies the danger of the slow leak. If you have a flat, you have to stop the car immediately and have it fixed, but the slow leak lets you keep driving, deflating a little bit at the time and putting you in danger. It may just be flat when you go to jump in when you are running late or worse, have an emergency. But, it also weakens the tire and sets you up for a blow out which can be catastrophic.

I know this, yet I drove on it anyway. Luckily, a teenager of all people, pointed out that I could wait no longer and I took it in. They fixed it. It was a tiny screw, but that tiny screw made me late to an appointment.

All day long, I pondered the dangers of slow leaks in our lives. They are just as dangerous as the one in the tire. When we get little leaks in our marriages or other relationships, we often ignore them because we are too busy. Like the tire, we know we should address the issue, but we don’t and they always get worse.

It’s the same way with health issues. We can know that something is wrong with us physically, but we ignore it. We just don’t have time to see a doctor or to make an effort to exercise or lose weight or eat better. But, in the history of leaking tires or relationships or serious physical issues, I’ve never heard of a leak spontaneously plugging itself. Nope, that job falls to us, the procrastinators.

Our spiritual lives are the same. We can know that we feel far from God, but ignore it. We can know that we need to be in serious prayer about something, but we don’t make the time. We can know that we should attend church regularly instead of a couple of times a month, but sleep in instead. We can know that the Bible is God’s word, but just can’t seem to make the time to read it. All of those things are slow leaks. They can be easily repaired early on or we can wait for a blowout.

Blowouts are scary and dangerous. They are often recoverable, but why take the chance? I’ve decided to be more vigilant about slow leaks in my tires and my life. Care to join me?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

A Fine Christian Woman

Posted on by Wendy
Having others see Jesus in us is a lifelong pursuit.
Having others see Jesus in us is a lifelong pursuit.

I recently watched the movie, “The Blind Side.”  It came out in 2009, but I never saw it. I knew it was supposed to be a heartwarming movie based on a true story, with a happy ending. I love those kind of movies. The basic story is a wealthy, white family takes in a homeless African-American teenager, Michael, and help him learn to play football and get into college.

It’s a fabulous success story about what can happen when people are willing to help those in need and how when those in need, take the offered help and make their best effort to succeed, the sky is the limit. The family has been very blessed and have their children in a Christian school and seem very willing to give back.

All of that, made me teary and gave me the warm and fuzzies. The mom, Leigh Anne, was played by Sandra Bullock and she was a very strong Southern woman. She always wore a cross around her neck and seemed determined to do the right thing. But, the part that has stayed in my head, is her meeting with the Michael’s mother.

She had learned from a case worker that the woman had twelve children and was a crack addict. Michael was a ward of the state and there was no reason to even try to contact her. I’m sitting in my comfortable chair at this point, just thinking what trash this woman was. How could she have that many kids? How could she smoke crack and lose her kids? I’m thinking, she should just write her off.

She doesn’t. Leigh Anne looks for her and finds her in a very sketchy housing project. She just sits right down on her couch and begins talking to her, not condescendingly like I felt like she deserved. She told his mother that she wasn’t getting any money from the state for taking him in. She spoke to her with kindness and when she did, the woman’s defenses came down. She openly spoke of at first, not remembering Michael’s daddy’s name. Leigh Anne moved over onto the couch next to her and asked her if she wanted to see him. Here’s the two lines that have stayed with me.

“You are a fine Christian woman.” Leigh Anne answered, “I try to be.”

That scene and those words have weighed heavily on my mind. The character in the movie was a fine Christian woman. Even in Michael’s mother’s misery, she could see the face of Christ.  Lee Anne makes me ask myself how I’m doing. Do people look at me and see a fine Christian woman? Do they see Jesus? If they see him in me at church, that’s great. But, am I that woman at the grocery store or at Wal-Mart? How about when someone cuts me off in traffic? What about when someone is unkind to me or my family? What about when someone has made horrible decisions like the woman in the movie? Would I be willing to speak kindly to her?

It’s easy to do the right thing when things are going well or when people treat me kindly, but it’s much more difficult when people are unkind or when they have treated people I care about unkindly.

The Bible tells us that we should love one another because God loves us. He loves everyone, so we should too. That’s a tall order. I have to admit that I often fail miserably. Even so, I feel I should try. I believe that being a fine Christian woman is a goal worth shooting for. What do you think? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Holes

Posted on by Wendy
This is a hole that chipmunks dug in our yard.
This is a hole that chipmunks dug in our yard.

We have a very wooded backyard. We have lots of oak trees and moss and rocks and very little grass. We like it that way. We kind of feel like we are in the mountains. Our yard is the home to a ton of birds and squirrels and chipmunks. Now chipmunks are notorious for digging holes and we try to fill them back in when we feel they pose a danger of someone stepping in them. But, chipmunks are relentless.

This hole, is at the very end of the walkway off of our deck. It’s right next to our house. As I was cutting okra and pulling a few figs yesterday, I noticed something shiny and black lying on the top of the chipmunk hole. As I went to investigate, I caught my breath; it was a snake, with only its head exposed. I have no idea how long the snake was in the hole, but I do know that I stepped around it several times that afternoon.

After I called my hubby to come check it out, it retreated further. I thought of that snake for the rest of the day and into the next. How big was it? When would it come out? Was it dangerous? My biggest question was, how long had it been there?

As many of my encounters with nature tend to do, this one made me begin to think about the possible holes in my spiritual life. How am I doing with the big three: prayer, Bible reading and worship? I think most of us can claim we do one or two well, but to really be able to put on the full Armor of God, we have to engage in all three. If we are lacking in one area, we leave a hole.

This is what finally came out of that hole.
This is what finally came out of that hole.

Bible reading seems to be where most people fail, but we can’t really get engaged with the Holy Spirit, if we don’t read God’s word. How can we develop wisdom and discernment? How do we know if a calling comes from God or somewhere else if we don’t know what He has to say about the matter.

We need the Holy Spirit to help us develop love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control and perseverance first in ourselves, and then to share with a badly hurting world. In the Armor of God, the Holy Spirit is the only offensive weapon. It’s a sword. It’s important.

Then there’s prayer. If we want to hear what God has to say, we have to listen intently. That means setting aside some quiet time daily to pray. Believe me, I know how hard that can be, but still very necessary.

Then there’s worship. In worship, we engage with other Christians in lifting up the name of God. The importance of worshiping the Creator of all on a regular basis, is also incredibly important to our spiritual life and spiritual safety. It creates a community that is vital to our spiritual growth.

When we pray about what areas need work, we can make an effort to fix them and plug any holes that we may have.

My hubby plugged the hole with a rock.
My hubby plugged the hole with a rock.

If we leave the holes uncovered, who knows what might move in? Chipmunks aren’t the only thing that is relentless. How do you do with spiritual holes?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

This Little Light of Mine

Posted on by Wendy

 

Now, more that ever, we need to let our light shine.
Now, more that ever, we need to let our light shine.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke

A friend of mine put that on Facebook last week and I jotted it down. I thought about it for several days and then I received a newsletter in the mail this weekend called, “The Voice of the Martyrs.” It came from Christianbook.com and it chronicled the stories of persecuted Christians living in  Nigeria. As expected, they were heartbreaking. There are Christians who are being killed simply for being Christians and for refusing to convert to Islam. You may remember from news reports, last spring, that this was the same country where Muslim extremists kidnapped 270 school girls with plans on selling them .

There were also miraculous stories too. A man was shot in the face for refusing to convert and was left bleeding all night because his wife had been locked in their house and couldn’t go for help. He survived. Not only did he survive, when he was scheduled for a bone graft, to repair the damage from the point-blank AK-47 shot, his bones had miraculously healed.

There was a pastor who refused to renounce Christ to spare his own life. As the attacker put a knife to his throat, a shot rang out close by and the attackers ran off. Divine intervention?

Christians are still being killed and tortured in Iraq by the terrorist group ISIS, for refusing to convert to Islam.

These are countries on the other side of the world; why do we care? We care because these people are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are supposed to care about what Jesus cares about and we can be sure he cares about Christians everywhere, not just those who have been blessed to live in the United States.

Then, last week, it hit closer to home. Last Friday, September, 26th,  a woman in Oklahoma, here in the United States, was beheaded by a recent convert to Islam, for refusing to convert. How could that happen here and why? We are not some third world country with uncivilized maniacs running around.

I think the answer is, evil hates light and evil knows no borders. As Christians, we let the light of Christ shine through us. Extremists can’t just leave Christians alone because we emit light. They hate the light. Evil hates light. Evil loves darkness. The Bible says, “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear their deeds will be exposed.” John 3:20

Jesus is the light of the world. Evil hates Jesus. But Jesus was very clear about letting our light shine. He said, “You are the light of the world-like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.” Matthew 5: 14-15

So what can we do? First of all, I think we need to be in constant prayer for our fellow Christians. We can pray for their protection and pray for their courage. We can never underestimate the power of prayer.

Next, we need to make a concerted effort to let our light shine. We need to use our gifts and resources to serve and present the face of Christ to a dark world because the answer to darkness is always more light. When we add just the tiniest of flame to a dark area, we light the way for all who are there.

More than ever, we have to let it shine. Are you in?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Life in Progress

Posted on by Wendy
We have to remember that life is always in progress.
We have to remember that life is always in progress.

When I was a kid, when our television programming was interrupted for a Presidential speech or for a weather report, we would rejoin our show in progress. In progress, meant that we had missed a portion of the show. Sometimes, depending on the show, it was very difficult to figure out what was going on. Sometimes it was close to impossible.

I think we need to remember that whenever we meet someone new, that their life is in progress. We have such a tendency as human beings, to compare ourselves to others. Why is that person so much more successful? Why does her marriage seem so perfect? Why does she seem to have it all? Of course the flip side is, why is she late everywhere she goes? Why are their kids always fighting? Why is their house always a mess?

We love to compare ourselves to one another. We either make ourselves feel badly for not measuring up or make ourselves feel good because someone else’s life seems to be such a disaster. But, the truth is, whether good or bad, everyone’s life is in progress.

For the people we choose to put on some kind of pedestal, we need to keep in mind that we have absolutely no idea how hard they have worked or what they have been through to get where they are. We also have to remember that we may just be getting started on something, that someone else has been working on for years. We shouldn’t compare our beginning, to their in progress.

For the people that we choose to look down on, they too are in progress. Here again, we have no idea what they have been through or how hard they have tried. Everyone’s personal journey looks different. Theirs may have been particularly difficult.

The Bible tells us that, we are all “fearfully and wonderfully,” made by a loving God. We are all different, but all made in His image. We are all called to serve Him in some unique way. How we serve and how we walk our faith journey will look a little bit different for everyone. There will be sprinters and those who like to stop and smell the flowers. There are those that will leave the path on detours here and there, eventually to find their way back.

The point is, as long as we are here on planet earth, we are in progress. If we keep our eyes on God, where they should be, we can resist the temptation to compare our progress with anyone else’s. It’s not supposed to be about us or them. It’s supposed to be about Him. That can be a difficult truth to accept, but it’s still truth.

In the mean time, if we are tempted to compare, we have to remember that we are all in progress and as long as our faith journey is leading us into the arms of Jesus, who cares who gets there first? After all, it’s not a race.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy

God Doesn’t Care About Statistics

Posted on by Wendy
This acorn only has a 1 in 10,000 chance of becoming a tree.
This acorn only has a 1 in 10,000 chance of becoming a tree.

If you are a math challenged individual like myself, the title of today’s post may cause you to breathe a sigh of relief. I came up with this nugget of truth as I was watering my tomatoes and okra this morning and noticed acorns strewn everywhere. I felt the nudge to pick one up, so I did. After doing a little research, I knew why I felt the nudge.

First of all, it’s amazing to me that a massive tree can come from this tiny seed. White oaks, like the ones in my backyard can grow anywhere from 65 to 100 feet tall. That’s a really big tree. They can also live up to 200 years and some species have been known to live over a thousand years.

It's truly amazing that these massive trees could come from something as tiny as an acorn.
It’s truly amazing that these massive trees could come from something as tiny as an acorn.

Even more amazing is the fact that only one in ten thousand acorns will become a tree. Think about that for a moment. It takes an oak tree anywhere from twenty to fifty years to even be able to produce acorns. Mature trees will produce an average of 2,200 acorns each fall.

The odds of having oak trees around don’t seem very good, yet there are at least ten in my backyard alone, and oak trees grow almost everywhere in the world. Now that we have had a little botany lesson, let’s dig a little deeper.

Let’s take a minute to think about the oak tree and the God who created it. What can we learn from it? First of all, God isn’t interested in the odds of success. Of course, we have seen that in the Bible over and over again. What are the chances of a baby surviving in a basket in the crocodile infested Nile River? What are the chances of a young boy taking down a fierce, armor wearing giant? What are the chances of a teenager being thrown into a den of lions and walking away without a scratch?

The more impossible the odds seem to us, the more God seems to like it. He likes to use the what seems to be impossible, to us to show that all things are possible with Him. Part of Moses’ story was the fact that God had him picked out from the beginning. The basket in the river simply showed God’s protection. If a well armed, well-trained warrior had taken down Goliath, it wouldn’t have been miraculous. Daniel’s amazing faith not only saved him, but served as a witness to the many who heard about it.

Secondly, the mighty oak tree is very slow growing and because of that, it grows very tall and strong. It’s also very resistant to pests and disease. It provides incredible shade to the living things around it, respite from the oppressive heat. Its acorns provide food for over 180 birds and mammals. It’s beautiful year round, from the budding in the spring to the incredible colors in the fall.

There are other trees, like the pine, native here in Georgia, that grow much faster, but they are much more susceptible to disease and pests. Not only that, a strong wind or ice storm can destroy pine trees in no time flat.

As Christians, I think we should look to the oak for inspiration. We should take our time and grow strong, deep roots. We should use our resources to feed those around us both physically and spiritually. We should let our long branches provide shade and shelter and we should let our light shine, no matter the season. Perhaps most importantly, we should remember that nothing is impossible with God, whatever the odds.

Yes, I’m glad I picked up the acorn. It’s just one more reminder that when we truly seek God, we will find Him.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂