Be Thou My Vision

Everyone’s afraid.   Afraid about the future, the economy, pollution, the government, and the list goes on and on.   Worry seems to be the norm.   Apprehension is a way of life.   What’s going to happen? Will we make it?   What if?   Fear plagues and grips.   The world seems unstable to say the least.   Bad news is abundant.   Nothing seems safe any more.   The stock market, jobs, retirement all teeter unsteadily.   World unrest, wars, and natural disasters shake us to the core.   I’ll admit it’s hard not to worry about the chaos all around us.   But the fear that clutches me originates from something much worse.   It’s due to something much deeper, fundamental, and eternally significant.   I’m afraid of what we have become as individuals, as communities, and as a country.   The threat that I feel and see and hear is one not from without but from within.   God’s Word says, “as a man ...

I love mandevilla plants.   Every summer I buy one and enjoy the beautiful pink, tropical looking blooms throughout the season.   I always use the same big, square, terra cotta pot with a wonderful trellis for it to climb.   This year’s model sits at the corner of our brick walk here at the house in Long Island.   It has been especially beautiful and has bloomed prolifically all summer.   Recently I walked by to find that in spite of the perfect trellis provided for it, the mandevilla had sent tendrils out in search of something to climb and had attached themselves to the nearby hydrangea.   Typically I redirect the rogue shoots onto the trellis as I pass by, but had neglected to do so for a few days.   For some reason the new growth has to be coaxed and directed to climb the very thing intended for them.   New shoots stubbornly reach out as if in search of something better than what I have provided for them.   It takes consta...