I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. —Psalm 139:14 (ESV)

A flash of white zoomed down the walnut tree and across the lawn. I stared at it from the dining room, trying to figure out what I was seeing—a white rat? No, the tail was wrong. Big and bushy, it moved like a squirrel. A white squirrel? Watching closer, I yelled for Tony or the boys to get a second opinion. What the heck is it?

The boys came first. They looked out, said, “Yeah, I see it, a white squirrel,” and walked away. I tried to tell them the uniqueness of the situation, that it isn’t every day you see an albino squirrel. I told them I’ve been on this earth for decades and it’s the first one I’ve ever seen and, if I were a betting person I’d say I’m not likely to see another.

Tony came to the window. His eyes widened. “That’s something,” he said. I watched the squirrel run up and down an oak and then disappear in the knot of a maple.

Nature’s anomalies feel sacred. Their differences call out the beauty in everything around us. Their existence seems to say, I’m special, but everything else is, too. Look, look at that crow, hear the way his call sounds like “mama-mama.” And that tree over there, towering over the house, that started as a seed. The dandelions, yellow now, will later give children pause to blow on them and wish. All day long that little white squirrel helped me see the extraordinary in the ordinary, and I am blessed to be a witness.

Great Creator, the world is filled with so many wonders. Forgive me if I forget to notice and thank You for today’s “white squirrel,” a heavenly messenger to call out the miraculous all around me.

“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” —Genesis 28:16 (NAS)

I’m a college grandma in a fall semester fiction-writing course. One evening I was to introduce an essay on the significance of place in fiction writing. Author Eudora Welty emphasized seeing place through eyes of discovery. The tired and overlooked and familiar setting, newly awakened, can deepen the meaning of the story.

As I drove onto the campus up a long hill, I was dazzled by flaming torches of red-orange maple leaves. A quartet of girls walked down the grassy slope toward a grove of trees. One broke free from the group and flung herself down on a crunchy cushion of leaves bunched beneath a tree. She lay on her back swinging her arms and legs, making a leaf angel. I’d made snow angels, but angels in leaves were a novelty.

Suddenly I wasn’t driving to class on an ordinary autumn evening. I was discovering place—place ablaze in sunset, transformed by a leaf angel, celebrated with youthful exuberance; place possessed of meaning that quickens me each time I revisit or remember it.

I wonder, how might I be revitalized if I began to see my life through eyes of discovery, if I looked for fresh meaning in my daily routine and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I do know it”?

Ever-present God who fills “all in all” (Ephesians 1:23), fill wherever I am with awareness of You.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17 (NIV)

Spring has sprung in New York City, or more accurately pounced, with temperatures predicted to reach the eighties today and the nineties tomorrow. Debates about global warming aside, that’s more like summer. Just last week the temperatures were dipping into the thirties at night, and folks were bemoaning what a cold spring we were having. My wife Julee left me a note on the fridge this morning, reminding me to clean the air conditioner filters.

Today I have a lot to do (in addition to those filters): Go to the gym, take winter clothing to the cleaners for storage (closet space is at a premium in New York City), pick up a few things for a business trip on Monday, pay bills (least favorite chore), take Millie to dog park (most favorite chore) and pick up dog food (Millie’s favorite chore), shop for groceries, drop car off for servicing. And since I haven’t gotten to any of them yet, I’m feeling a sense of urgency verging on panic.

Yet in this season of getting things done, taking a minute to give thanks for the blessing of a busy day is not a bad idea. Yes, we all feel overwhelmed and hopelessly behind at times. There are moments when I feel I will never catch up. But the fact that there is so much for me to do, that my days are so packed with life is a gift, a form of grace.

As hectic as things sometimes seem, God, let me never forget that You are always at the center of my day. Thank You for the gift of being busy.

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For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you. Psalm 71:5–6

What do you rely on to give you confidence? Your skills, your degrees, your accomplishments? What about when you sense a call to do a task for which you feel unqualified? Have you ever found yourself wondering, “Who am I to ______ [lead this group, start this ministry, supervise these employees, organize this fundraiser, teach these children . . .]?” Have you ever thought, “You picked the wrong woman for this job, Lord”?

If we rely on ourselves, we will not be qualified for that which God calls us. In fact, throughout Scripture we see that God often chose people who felt unqualified for the tasks God laid before them: Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, Esther and Mary all felt unequal to the task.

But if God can use a roaming Bedouin to birth a nation, a stuttering speaker to confront Egypt’s pharaoh, a shepherd boy to lead a nation, an exiled Jewish girl to rescue her people and a timid teenager to bear the Son of God, then God can use us! The critical question isn’t, “Can I do this?” The better question is, “Can God do this through me?” The answer is a resounding “Yes!”

When the psalmist asked God to be a refuge and rescuer in Psalm 71, he boldly proclaimed his dependence upon the Sovereign Lord. The psalmist knew that every breath he had taken had occurred because God had given it. Throughout his lifetime he had been dependent on God.

When we feel weak-kneed and lack confidence, we are most open to relying on God. The Bible gives us affirmation after affirmation of God’s strength in the face of our limited ability: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). “Nothing is too hard for [the Lord]” (Jeremiah 32:17). “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Nothing silences the voice of timidity as powerfully as the voice of Scripture.

So if you find yourself in a new situation today, make sure you don’t rely on your own limited talents or skills, but that you place your unshakable confidence in the limitless God.

Reflection

1. On what or on whom do you tend to rely when feeling out of your comfort zone?
2. Is there an area in your life in which God might be calling you to move out in faith? What fears do you have about that situation?
3. How does the psalmist’s reliance on God in Psalm 71 encourage you and renew your confidence in God’s ability to help you?

Related Readings

Exodus 3:1–15

Joshua 1:1–9

Luke 1:26–38

2 Corinthians 3:4–6

2 Timothy 1:7–12

Read more from the New Women’s Devotional Bible!

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. —Psalm 90:1 (niv)

We had a tree-housewarming celebration last Sunday afternoon. Seven grandchildren, three sets of parents, my husband, Lynn, and I circled the trunk of a tree in the waning sunshine as my son Derek pounded the final nail in the wooden structure he’d been constructing for the past several weekends. We took pictures and gave loud cheers for the tree-house builder.

I grew up on this land, and when I was a child, my grandfather built a tree house in a huge cottonwood tree at the bottom of the hill below our house. A farmer owned the property, but he was happy to have a tree house there because nobody lived anywhere near that tree—except a bunch of cows.

That tree house became my place of sacred solitude. I remember lying on my back on the planks of wood and looking up through the huge green leaves at the panorama of sky. I’m sure that’s where I learned how quickly clouds can change shape and move across the sky. It’s also where God became real to me. I felt His nearness and I didn’t have to use words to talk to Him. I believed He could hear me and He cared about me. No wonder I went to the tree house when I felt lonely or sad.

When our children were growing up on the same land, they, too, visited the tree house, but eventually the land was sold and new homes sprouted up. New children discovered the tree house, and over time, the boards in the branches of the tree disappeared.

So as I stood, looking up at this new tree house, I prayed that it might become the same kind of place for some of these grandchildren as the old one had been for me: a place to look up at the sky and realize, maybe for the first time, that God is real.

Father, bless this tree house and all the sacred places where we discover ourselves in You.

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I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies…. —Psalm 119:14

One day I was just plain blue, so I went to a folder labeled “Things I Want to Read Again.’’ On a piece of notebook paper half covered with stickers of butterflies, little bears and flowers was “Happy Hop Hop Day! Here’s a name poem for Momma:

P-recious and dear to her family though her
A-ccent is so Southern! She was just made
M-om of the year!”

Other times, I reach for my folder when I need purpose, inspiration or just a good chuckle. There’s a “Prayer for Children” by Ina Hughs that reminds me to pray for children “whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser.” There’s a newspaper article quoting our son Brock as an investment expert and a funny note from my husband David thanking me for cooking chili for a long-ago meal at church.

I hope ideas for your own folder are forming in your head. But even if you never get around to organizing your favorite writings, there’s another source of “Things I Want to Read Again.”

The Bible is chock full of adventure and intrigue, pithy quotes, sound advice, and plenty of reassurance from the One Who loves you most. Open it now. You’ll be glad you did.