Monday – December 20, 2010

Regardless of Age, God Equips Us
Read: Jeremiah 1:4-9

As I write this Advent devotional, I see out my window the glorious foliage of an Oct. day. My thoughts on the scripture are "colored" by God's gift of a beautiful world. Leaves begin small, tender and green; just as Jeremiah says God formed and set us humans apart in the womb, as his special part of creation. I like to believe we are much like leaves. Gradually, as our lives unfold, they are filled with the world and its daily demands. We add play, work, family; just some of the many worldly things that fill our busy lives. Yet, sometimes hidden, we also add growth, the kind that completes us as God intends us to be, as he created us to be. Like the leaves I see, loosing that green chlorophyll stored up over their brief life, and now revealing the marvelous colors within, I hope to have finally revealed those God-like qualities I am working hard to gain. Perhaps we can all feel "God with us", "Not be afraid", and "know that God will rescue us from this world", as Jeremiah writes. It may take a lifetime of Bible study, prayer, the strengthening of faith by the company of a shared church worship, to reveal God's true beauty within us, but like October's leaves, let us strive for that revelation.

Prayer: God, we know you do equip us for each and every day's challenges. Help us to be revealed as images of you at work in your world. Amen

Sharon Robbins