A Giant White Thimble

Devotional for Monday, March 29, 1999 by Liz Birnie

It didn't look like a tree, more like a giant white thimble that had been abandoned by some fantasy giant, in the forest where I was skiing. All the other trees had shed their covering of snow and were standing upright and strong in the winter sunlight. This one was so deeply encrusted that it had become a hump of impenetrable layers of heavy snow.

What had caused this tree, out of all the others, to become bowed over, buried and unrecognizable? How had lost its natural appearance and the ability to shed a heavy accumulation of snow?

Was it some deformity of the branches? Some quirk of chance that had allowed a drift of snow to pile up against it? A gust of wind that had caused the other trees to shake off their burden, but somehow missed this one tree?

Whatever the reason, it was going to be some time before it was freed of its load to join its neighbours in the warmth of the early spring sunlight.

That can happen in our own lives. We allow guilt to deform us, circumstances to embitter us, regrets about the past to take away the enjoyment of the present. We encrust ourselves with grudges, jealousy and defeat, missing the blessings of a loving God who eagerly desires to touch the very centre of our lives with His warmth.

We can break free, by aligning ourselves each day with God's word and thanking Him for the way He has given us victory over "the sin that so easily entangles."

Prayer: Thank you, God, for the full and final cost of our sin being paid by your Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. Thank you for forgiveness for past, present and future sin. Help us to keep short accounts with you and bask in the sunlight of your eternal love. Amen.

Liz Birnie <lizbirnie@telus.net>
West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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