Today I Cling...

This morning, as I look out the window, I admire the snow-blanketed surroundings. After a day of constant snow-fall, today I can barely see the road in front of our house. Regardless of the implications, it is impossible to deny the beauty of the scenery. It is a beauty hard to grasp for someone born in a tropical paradise…it’s a beauty hard to distinguish if you are out there in the elements rather than inside a nice-warm home. It’s a beauty that could be terribly harsh if you are not protected. It’s a beauty that threatens because it could actually destroy.

There are so many things in this world that we lean on, that we follow, that we hang on to which are seemingly beautiful and safe, but that once we cling to them, they become our doom. You name them, but relationships come to mind first. Relationships that turn abusive, co-dependent, addictive, toxic, leave us lingering at the bottom of the pit immerse where desolation and darkness run thick.

Clinging to a relationship, to a someone, to a loved one will inevitable disappoint us. Perhaps, not as dramatically as described above, but it will, one day, bring us to tears and heart ache.

This Lent I want to intentionally turn my eyes toward the One who never disappoints. I want to focus on Jesus, my constant source of breath, hope, truth and love. And where do I find Him? Where do I meet Him? Well, He is the Word, so the one sure place I can most certainly run into Him is by going to Him, by visiting Him in Scripture.

Today I realize I must cling to Him. Today I cling to the liberating power of The Word.

As I look out the window again, I know the seemingly endless snow will soon melt and the wintery scene will dissipate. Not so God’s Kingdom as described in His Word. That’s why I hang on to His promises…that’s why I cling to it.

He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Daniel 7: 14

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. Titus 1: 9

15so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. Philippians 2: 15-16

Blessed is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

and who meditates on his law day and night.

 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1: 1-3