Born into this world
Gifted with abilities—
Using for goodness
Watching out for self
Keeping hungry wolves away—
Nourished in spirit
Many roads ahead
Opportunity’s pathway—
Making wise choices
Embracing
God’s wisdom
Accepting priceless truth
Overcoming through His understanding
Perseverance
Practicing
Daily self-discipline
Listening to God
Maturing from righteous lessons
Diligence
Honoring
Unconditional love
Mother and Father
Guided by Spirit above
Family
If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.
From Proverbs 23:23: “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.”
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was an English writer. Many of his published works featured insightful essays, sermons, and poems.
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the 16th President of the United States.
Disturbing times should remind us we are only pilgrims on this earth. Our citizenship is in a heavenly kingdom that can never be shaken.
From Psalm 46:1-3: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.”
Charles Stanley (1932-2023) was an American pastor and Christian writer. He was dedicated to leading a teaching ministry.
If Jesus returns tomorrow, then tomorrow I’ll rest from my labor. But today I have work to do. I must continue the struggle until it’s finished.
From Galatians 6:9: “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.”
German-born Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident. Many of his writings express the role of Christianity in mankind’s daily lives. He paid the ultimate price for his activism against the Nazi regime during World War II.
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
When we’re connected to others, we become better people. [Both quotes come from Pausch’s “The Last Lecture” given on September 18, 2007.]
Randy Pausch (1960-2008) was an American educator and professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. His life was cut short by pancreatic cancer, but he persevered to share his final lecture a few months before his death.
If you want to be happy for life, love what you do.
Happiness is like mercury. Hard to hold, and when we drop it, it shatters into a million pieces. Maybe the bravest of all are those who have the courage to reach for it again.
Mary Higgins Clark (1927-2020) was an American writer of suspense novels.
There is nothing more difficult than to ask. We will long and desire and crave and suffer, but not until we are at the extreme limit will we ask.
From Luke 11:10: “For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) was a Scottish evangelist and Christian teacher. Following his death from an illness while in Egypt during World War I, his wife took on the task of transcribing the detailed notes she had written from his lectures and sermons. Gertrude Hobbs Chambers’ efforts resulted in the publication in 1924 of MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST. I frequently read from this devotional, and it has greatly deepened my faith and understanding of God’s Word.
Deserted, severed tree trunk
Shattered by storms long ago
Splitting this giant in two
Forsaken now in its woes
Nature’s hand calling the shots
Drawing dark cards from the deck
Standing alone, slowest death
Trying to salvage this wreck
Deformed snag appears lifeless
Yet, God calls this wildlife tree
Standing proudly, still on watch
Nature’s snack bar waits for free
Living nearby, log still lives
Covered with lichens and moss
Home for God’s smallest creatures
Termites, beetles . . . march across
Jagged stump remains on guard
Below the ground, roots still thrive
Life holds on, another year
Perseverance to survive
Around the dark, scuttled tree
Racing to reach sunlight first
Young saplings growing skyward
Cycle of life, marked to burst
All of the photographs were taken at Chestnut Ridge Metro Park, which is located just outside of Canal Winchester, Ohio. I frequently walk this park during the fall, spring, and summer months with an occasional hike in the wintertime.
Originally published September, 2020.
Big Sky Buckeye 