October 12, 2026
Cultivate Sacred Soil
God asks us to surrender our ego and learn to live using the wisdom found in the Word. Love encourages surrender. Surrender encourages love. Walk with the gentle heart of Jesus, with a resolve so strong people recognize you will never compromise His will or His way. Rest from the toil of life. Life pushes, presses, ekes its way into our minds and souls, making us feel we can’t rest, can’t sit down, and cannot take a break. But we can. We should. We have to in order to function at our best. God created Sundays as a day of rest. We should acknowledge that gift with gratitude and take time to obey His wisdom.
He gives us precious moments in life, small miracles and large, where we sense and know He has touched us. Either directly, through a story, or we have seen an actual miracle. Hold fast to these moments. Hide them away where they can be re-examined and treasured again and again.
Pruning is never easy. I have often wondered if even a tree feels the pain of pruning. To grow, to refine, to understand and to become the person God designed us to be, we require lessons and growth and both those things respond to pruning. We thrive in relationship to one another. Hearts leap with the joy of seeing an old friend. When we love, live and forgive others, we are training to be more like Jesus
Cultivation takes courage. Sometimes our faults need to be pointed out. Change is never easy but, like cleaning a closet or putting on a new roof, change can bring satisfaction and wisdom. Trust God. When we stay in the Word, pray regularly, and search His truth daily, He will guide and protect us.
Dear God, Mold me and make me, after Your will, while I am waiting, yielded and still. These are the words in a hymn I heard at church camp when I was 15 or 16. They changed me forever. I instantly understood, Lord, that You are the Potter and I am the clay. Thank You for creating a hungry heart in me. Help me to be malleable and quick to follow Your leading. When I come to you in prayer, may I always understand I am entering sacred ground. You meet me on Holy Ground, and I am honored to be invited into Your Presence.
Growing in Faith
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3