Enjoy these selections from the last 90 days of Walter Mouse's weekly "Field Mouse Evangelism" devotions. The devotions are listed in descending order by date with the most recent devotion at the top. Click here if you would like to read the Wending Our Way devotions.
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We visited Bill's mom today. She had her fall decorations out--bright orange pumpkins, colored leaves, oddly shaped gourds, and a fall candle surrounded by red berries. As Bill and his mom relaxed over coffee, I got to studying the gourds. God had to have a sense of humor when He created them. Such odd shapes and markings, and curious color combinations, lumps and bumps. They're weird things but they make interesting decorations.
Looking from the gourds to the pumpkins, I realized one important difference between the two--gourds are purely decorative while the pumpkins are useful, too. You can carve a pumpkin or cook it and eat it. It doesn't have to just sit around.
Hmmmm...we're kind of like those pumpkins or gourds. We can either sit around and be interesting and decorative, but virtually useless otherwise, or we can be reasonably attractive and useful, too. Which are you---a pumpkin or a gourd?
Haggai 2:4c ..."Be strong, all you people of the land," declares the LORD, "and work. For I am with you...."
Some mornings now we awake to a heavy frost. The grass, stiff and white, is frozen in place by chilly nighttime temperatures. Later, though, the sun will begin to warm patches of the yard, and the frost will melt away. Some patches lose their frosty cover faster than others since there are several shaded spots in our yard.
Christ's work in our lives is like that. He brings Light to some parts of our lives while other areas remain untouched. As His Presence and Light expand in our lives, the shadow of death lifts and new areas are freed to grow within His Warmth and Love. How wonderful to know that we don't have to come into His Light all at once--since His Light dawns on us gradually. This gives us time to adjust to new information and to begin to adapt to changes that appear. Hallelujah!
Matthew 4:16 ...on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
Bill and I recently drove past a group of bikers (pedal bikers) who'd been traveling along a fairly flat country road but came to an enormously high hill. Every one of them wound up walking their bikes up the slope. As they all patiently plodded upward, I thought of the times my life has seemed like that hill--so steep that it changed my whole way of going.
When life gets too steep for normal movement, it's time to slow the pace, faithfully putting one foot in front of the other, slowly advancing toward the future that's awaiting me.
Job 18:7 ...The vigor of his step is weakened....
Bill's mom had such a pretty garden this past spring and summer. It's a mixture of annuals and perennials. The perennials give an ever-changing sequence of color, and the annuals provide bright continuous bloom all spring and summer.
The perennials die back in the coldest days of fall, but peep up above ground again as spring warms the earth. The annuals, on the other hand, die with the first frost and are gone forever. Mom pulls them out and discards them. We're always sorry to see them go, but once they've passed their season of usefulness, there's no point in hanging onto them.
So it is with our lives at times, too. Some events are meant to be annuals--to be savored and enjoyed during their season of bloom, but not to be held onto beyond that. Hard as it is to uproot the things we've loved, it's sometimes the only way to step forward into the new life that's awaiting us.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 ...a time to plant and a time to uproot....
As we left a public parking lot the other day, Bill noticed big, loopy tire marks on the blacktop. It looked like someone spun out purposely and left tread marks as evidence.
It got me thinking: What kind of marks do we leave on the roadways of life? Are they the "Hey! Lookit Me!!!" kind, or are they the often-invisible sort that speak of love, hope and encouragement?
We only come this way once. As people look back at where we've been, what will they see?
1 Peter 3:4 ...the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit....
Bill and I were stopped at a red light at a major intersection recently and were watching all the traffic going across in front of us. It's amazing how many different types of vehicles are out there: cars, pickup trucks, SUVs trailers, cement mixers, semis, motorcycles, horse trailers, tow trucks, ambulances, RVs, police cars, fire trucks.... Each one served a different purpose. Each one was off on its appointed rounds.
Wouldn't it be silly if someone tried to put a cement mixer and an ambulance together in one vehicle? Or how about a police car combined with a tow truck? Hee heee!! They'd look funny and they wouldn't work too well.
We're kind of like all those vehicles. We're each given various gifts to be used in service to mankind. It all works out well if we maximize our gifts and use them to help others. Things don't work too well if we try to add on a "vehicle" we're not. Then we can wind up at cross-purposes and find that it's hard to get anything accomplished.
Romans 12:6 ...We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.
Bill often visits with an elderly friend who's confined to a wheelchair in a local nursing home. She struggles with a wasting disease but has a bountiful spirit. She certainly has good days and bad days, but whatever her lot for the day, her whole face lights up when she sees us coming.
Her whole being seems to say, "Welcome to my world!" We're always received with such obvious pleasure that it's actually refreshing.
Have you ever stopped to think that God receives us--every one of us--in just this way? He's just tickled pink when we show up, for whatever reason. His greatest pleasure is fellowship and we're His favorite guests.
Judges 19:20 ..."You are welcome at my house," said the old man.
Have you ever happened to leave early for something and wound up with a bit of free time on your hands? That happened to Bill and me recently. We got on the road and discovered that we were at least twenty minutes ahead of schedule. I forget where we were headed, but we didn't want to arrive early, so we dawdled a bit. Bill drove under the speed limit, letting everyone race frantically by. We took a detour past a friend's house and stopped to see her garden. We enjoyed the scenery along the way. We arrived at our destination relaxed and refreshed. It was great!
I think God wants us to dawdle through life occasionally--maybe more than occasionally. It refreshes mind and body. It's good for us physically, emotionally and spiritually. God doesn't ask us to go through life continually in overdrive. Sometimes we're just supposed to hang in neutral for a bit.
Isaiah 32:18 ...My people will live in peaceful dwelling places.
It's kind of windy today. One of our neighbor's birdfeeders is out in the open and the wind just sails across it. I can see a sparrow having its breakfast. His feathers are blowing all over the place, bless him. He has to hang on extra tight just to stay on the perch! It doesn't seem to bother him, though. He's got a good grip, and he just keeps pecking away.
Sometimes I should be like that little bird--when the going gets rough, I need to get a good grip and keep on keeping on with the business at hand. Sometimes the winds of life don't have to affect what I'm doing.
Psalms 51:10 ...renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Bill tried to eat cereal with a fork this morning! He wasn't planning to do that, but he'd just used a fork to get some peach slices out of a can, so he didn't grab a spoon when he dumped cereal on top of the peaches in his bowl. He didn't give the fork another thought until he tried to eat.
It was kind of comical, actually, but it made me realize how important it is to use the right tool to get a job done properly. Don't we sometimes "eat cereal with forks" when we rush through our devotional time and hurry on to whatever's next? We can't do that if we expect to stay nourished spiritually. We really need to scoop up the word if it's going to feed us properly.
Hosea 13:6 ...When I fed them, they were satisfied....
You see funny things on the road. Bill and I were out in the country recently and got into a line of very slow traffic. The hold-up was caused by two ancient pick-up trucks. One was being towed by the other. Nothing hi-tech here. They were tied together with a rope! It made for slow-going because they both had to watch that the towed truck didn't plow into the back end of the one doing the towing. They turned off somewhere. I hope they got where they were going.
The two trucks made a good picture of Christian outreach. Nothing fancy--just two banged-up souls working together to make things better. It's the same journey we're asked to take with Our Jesus.
1 Corinthians 12:28 ...in the church God has appointed...those able to help others....
One night Bill was at the dining room table writing a draft for work. He made a mistake somewhere and grabbed for the white-out tape dispenser. What he grabbed, and used, instead was a yellow hi-lighter. He wound up hi-lighting his mistake instead of erasing it.
This wasn't really a problem since this was a draft copy, but it made me think. Jesus would never mark a mistake that way! Once we spot an error in our lives, we can turn to Him, confess our sin, and receive His forgiveness. He wants us to learn from our mistakes and then move on, unburdened by guilt and shame. He doesn't want our mistakes to be hi-lighted. He wants them removed so we can get on with the business of becoming more like Him.
1 John 1:9 ...If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Bill and I were driving along a meandering country road recently. We were admiring the scenery and the somewhat quaint homes and out-buildings. At one unexpected spot, we passed a yellow road sign with a black fire truck on it. Then, not far beyond that, we drove by a sign that said, "_ire Station." It was supposed to say, "Fire Station" but the "F" had worn off. It looked kind of funny.
As we continued on our way, "-ire Station" stayed with me. I wondered how many times I've been an "Ire Station," spewing wrath on all who came near. I wonder if maybe some days I, too, should have warning signs posted so others know I'm up ahead.
Ephesians 4:31 ...Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger....
Click here to read the Wending Our Way devotions.
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This page was last revised on February 23, 2020 at 7:41 PM.
