What Are Your Spiritual Ships Bringing Back?
Close your eyes for a moment and picture this: a grand harbor along the ancient Mediterranean coastline. The air smells of salt and cedar. Ropes are straining. Sails snap open like white flags of adventure. And there goes Solomon's navy, the ships of Tharshish, setting out on a voyage that will last three whole years.
Three years! I can barely commit to a three-week meal plan, and Solomon's men were heading out to sea for three years. And here's the best part: they weren't sailing all that way to bring back ordinary things. Oh, no. They returned with gold and silver, of course, but they also brought back ivory, and...wait for it...apes and peacocks.
Can you just imagine the scene when those ships finally returned to port?
Are You a Visitor or a Resident?
I have a confession to make.
For years, I treated my relationship with Christ like most people treat a vacation rental. I'd show up when I needed something, enjoy the warmth for a bit, maybe leave a nice note on the counter, and then go back to my regular life. I called it faith. I called it prayer. I called it being a Christian.
What I didn't call it was visiting.
And there is a world of difference between visiting a place and living there.
Think about it. When you visit somewhere, you pack a bag. You're a guest. You're on your best behavior, you use the nice towels, and somewhere in the back of your mind, you know you're going home eventually. But when you live somewhere? That's different. You know where the creaky floorboard is. You leave your shoes by the door. You don't have to knock. It's home.
When Life Feels Dark, and You Don’t Fit In
When we seek spiritual encouragement in God's creation, we often turn to majestic animals like the gentle dove, the sure-footed deer, or the soaring eagle. We rarely consider the bat. Honestly, they give me the creeps. But sometimes, God hides His most profound comforts in the most unexpected, unglamorous places.
If you have ever felt exhausted from trying to force things to work, discouraged because you cannot see the results of your hard work, or out of place in a world that doesn't quite understand you, the bat has some beautiful lessons to teach us.
The Art of "Letting Go"
When a bird takes off, it stands on the ground, pushes off with its strong legs, and flaps furiously against gravity. A bat cannot do this. Its legs are too weak to launch it from the ground. If a bat tries to take off from the dirt, it will only exhaust itself and go nowhere.
To fly, a bat must climb to a high place, hang completely upside down, and simply let go. It uses the momentum of the drop to catch the air.
Walking in Their Footsteps
In my last devotion, I shared how, over the past week or so, Wales has been graced with a beautiful blanket of snow. Not long after I wrote that devotion, we woke up to around seven inches of white, fluffy snow. It was beautiful, though Tess, our little terrier, did not appreciate it at all! Still, there's something magical about fresh snowfall...at least until you have to walk through it.
Despite the cool and crazy weather, Jason and I have tried to maintain our daily habit of going out for a pleasant family walk. We've bundled up against the cold and put on our best boots. Tess has been sporting her stylish purple jacket with a cozy fleece lining. It's been quite the adventure, let me tell you!
Are You Ready With an Answer?
I recently watched a video from a YouTuber who makes his living as a content creator. In this video, he warned against telling people if you do YouTube for a living because many don't understand what that means. He shared a story about meeting friends over the holidays. When they asked what he was doing these days, he struggled to explain his job as a YouTuber. His excuse was that he hadn't anticipated the conversation and wasn't ready with an answer.
I had to laugh initially, but then it got me thinking. Here was a man who talks to a camera for hours each week, uploading content about his life and work, yet he couldn't provide a simple explanation when asked about his job face-to-face. The irony struck me. But before I became too smug in my judgment, the Lord nudged my heart with a convicting question: Am I any different when it comes to my faith?