A WORD FOR TODAY, November 6, 2023
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, November 6, 2023
“Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called ‘today’, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, while it is said, ‘Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.’” Hebrews 3:12-15, WEB
There was a place in Pennsylvania I loved to drive in the fall. Just as you drove over a hill, the valley view was filled with bright, beautiful color. People go on vacations to New England just to see the changing of the leaves. The sound of crunching makes the children laugh and play, jumping into the piles to send the leaves flying in the air. I’ve noticed houses and other buildings that are normally hidden in the forests by the curtain of leaves but are now in view as that curtain drops. Autumn is a beautiful time of year, but sad in a way as we watch the fresh life of spring and summer pass into the bleakness of winter.
Many people look forward to Autumn because they love the cool, brisk weather. They want pumpkin spice everything and sweaters. It is not my favorite season, because I love the wildflowers of spring and the warmth of summer. Autumn often brings dreary, wet weather and it leads to the bitter cold of winter. I do like the color of the changing leaves, although not so much the clean-up.
We don’t get much color here in Texas. We have pockets of deciduous trees that change to yellow, orange, and red around the state, although they are few and far between. There are a few trees in our neighborhood, but most of our trees are a type of oak that lose their leaves in February after they turn brown and die. This has not been a good year for any of our trees. A lengthy, intense drought has stressed all our trees, and the leaves on those that might be pretty are just turning brown and falling to the ground. Even the places that are known for hiking among the colorful leaves have little hope as the leaves are simply turning brown.
One thing about Autumn is that it is a time filled with lessons about change and death. I once noticed a leaf on a tree that seemed to be hanging by an invisible thread, blowing in the breeze. It was probably caught on a spider web as it dropped from the branch. It made me think about how there are times in our life when we seem to be hanging on nothing more than a thread that is keeping us from falling. Others may not even be able to see, or understand, why we are still hanging there, and they are certain that the invisible force will give out at any moment.
Spider webs are extremely strong, but the Lord God Almighty is even stronger. Five hours after I first saw that leaf, it still dangled in the air. How often do we feel like we are dangling, close to falling out of reach of our Father? Our faith in Him is like an invisible thread, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are kept from falling when we are tempted by doubt, fear, and desire.
Doubt, fear, and desire are regular parts of our lives. The world provides many ways for us to turn away and fall from the grasp of our Lord. That invisible thread of faith in God is all we have keeping us from falling to the ground to die and cleared away. Unbelievers do not understand, because they can't see what holds us to God. But we know that He is stronger than anything in this world, and that even in the worst of times, we can hold firmly to the confidence we have in God, because He is faithful. So, Today let us encourage one another to keep hanging in there. The bleak winter will pass and we will see new life once again.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org
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