Corona Devo 3035


It was twenty-four degrees Fahrenheit today when I woke up.  We've had chillier temperatures, but still--it was cold as I squinted into the bathroom mirror, brushing my teeth.  And I was just a few minutes into my day, and yet my feet were freezing as I stood on the bathroom floor.  

I got dressed in multiple layers, grumbling in my spirit about the cold winter weather of Ohio. 

It's hard to explain if you come from a warmer climate, but freezing temperatures (over repeated days...and months) can make you a little bit bitter.

I was in danger of beginning my day in a negative (thought/attitude) way, and then I heard her.

I often hear her chirping and clicking quietly outside my window, but today it was before sunrise.  The sun had not yet given one ray of light to promise a new day, and yet...she knew dawn was coming and she cheerily welcomed it.  She chirped and chattered, and reminded me how to begin today.

This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.  ~Psalm 118:24

We have a cardinal couple that nests in a tree just outside our window, and here was the female, singing her heart out for me outside my window at only 24° Fahrenheit while it was still dark.  

She chose to sing to begin her day today.  

What was I choosing?

How will we begin and live today? 

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  ~Joshua 24:15

I tried to snap a picture of this perky she-cardinal, but it was too dark and cold.  However, I saw what God was doing for me.

That cardinal faced the same temperatures as I do today.  And--she has far less covering on her body than the layers of clothing that I had applied, and surely her shelter was nowhere near as warm as the heated home I live in.  

But she...and we--We have the same Creator, and He gave us everything we need to fare well today, and to do so with a song in our heart, if we so choose.

Will we sing?  Will we choose to sing today, despite our circumstances, or what hinders us?

Perhaps it is the cold weather, but it might be cold/pain/sorrow/worry, or responsibility bearing down on us today.  It might be time to get back-to-the-grindstone today, and we are not quite ready to begin grinding again.  Perhaps the ax that we have to grind is too intimidating for us to handle. 

How will we choose to greet the day and live today?

His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” 

(10) He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”  

In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.  ~Job 2:9-10

You and I are very different from that female cardinal,  but we are in some ways the same: we both have a choice today, and we both have a Creator that has our day (and life) all planned out.

How will we respond to that Truth?

Will we sing?

Can we chirp and sing (and trust!) happily in response to our Creator today?

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? (26) Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (27) Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  ~Matthew 6L25-27

Before I had finished getting ready for the day, the cardinal silenced, and just like that, I stood in the quiet of the still-dark (cold!) morning once again.

But she had made her point and impression on me.

And so had God.

What will it be today?  Will we sing or be sour?

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  ~Philippians 4:4

~~~

A new day is coming--will we cheerily welcome it, or grumble and stumble? 

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.  ~Proverbs 17:22

~~~

God has a good plan for our day and our lives (Jeremiah 29:11), but it is up to us to join Him, and to lock-arms with Him and to live for Him today.  It's probably going to take some effort on our part.  Will we?

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.  ~Psalm 16:11

~~~

God had "a talk" with me today, without saying a word, but I got His point (and I am embarrassed that He had to make it).  

Warm or cold, sick or well, rested or tired, filled or lonely...if we have received the love of our Creator into our heart, then we can have a hope in today that supersedes temperatures and tempers.  


Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com


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