Shade Tree Wisdom 9/15/11

          The full moon is still hanging low in the western sky when I walk. It is warm, but there is a slight stirring of a gentle breeze. So I enjoy it under this what the Indians called ‘corn’ or ‘harvest’ moon. It was so named by the Indians because now corn, squash, beans, pumpkins and wild rice were ready for harvest, and this moon gave them light to work late into the day.

          But right now, it hangs over a quiet neighborhood which is not even disturbed by snorting yellow boxes since schedules and routes have been changed. So, the world may be in turmoil – and the news beats at us in every newscast - but right now there is this “peace that passes all understanding”. Not only in the area, but in my heart because Jesus died on the cross and paid for my sins. Paul writes of this as “nailing it to the cross”. That’s where it happened. The death of Christ made the payment that we could not. Now we are Righteous before God.

          It almost seems sometimes as if we are living in an angry world. Things that weren’t supposed to happen are happening, and the mess gets deeper and wider as we try to ‘manage’ it with our own plans.
It is just then we need to turn to God’s Word, so rich in promise.

          Lamentations is a book of remose, of wailing, of heavy hand on sin. But right in the middle of it this:
     “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.
          Because His compassions fail not.
     They are new every morning,
          Great is Thy faithfulness.
     The Lord is my portion, saith my soul;
          Therefore will I hope in Him.
     The Lord is good to them that wait for him,
          To the soul that seeketh him.
     It is good that a man should both hope, and quietly wait,
          For the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3,22-26

          The day will be warm again, and no rain seems near yet, but God is there, as He said. Bless His holy name and walk in His peace.

GPD 9/15/11