Grounded

Who are you? What gives you identity? What’s your brand?

It was called a Topsy Turvy, an incredible hanging planter that promised to grow big red tomatoes upside down. My son bought it for me, and I couldn’t wait to see tomatoes growing from the apparatus hung on our porch.

I am writing this devo from a packed airplane. It was snowing, windy, and cold when we took off, but we’ll land in seventy-degree weather. After speaking at a church, I’ll get back on a plane and return to the cold. Life is a bit like my travels over the next couple of days. Some circumstances bring the blowing cold; others bring the warm sunshine.

Fresh starts come with each sunrise. They are not carried over from the day before. Remember the manna process in the Old Testament. The Israelites could only collect a day’s worth; the next day, they went back for more. That’s how it is with fresh starts. And our “manna” is God’s Word.

Today’s passage, the Shema (from the Hebrew word “hear”), is a confession of faith recited every day by pious Jews and every Sabbath in the synagogues.

Dig deep to have a better understanding of who God is and learn how much He loves you. Let His truth wash over you and cleanse your heart. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Reading and studying God’s Word is the key to spiritual growth.