by Rev Don Schatz

Unfading.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

[Your beauty] should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
I Peter 3:4, New International Version

It is a rare thing to have a white Christmas in the Pacific Northwest.  Yet, last month our church building, the trees surrounding it, the parking lot, and lawns sported four inches of fresh snow.  It was a thing of beauty.  Two days later all evidence of that beauty was gone.  It was just a memory, or memory captured in a photograph.

Better the unfading beauty of “a gentle and quiet spirit.”  The Holy Spirit’s work is a quiet one, often not drawing attention to itself.  Psalm 139 speaks of “when I was made in the secret place” by the Lord.  Just so, the Spirit’s work in growing the character of a gentle and quiet spirit is done ‘in secret.’  It is an inner work the Spirit is doing in you, in all of God’s dear children.  Out of that place of inner spiritual beauty, we discover the resources the Spirit has placed there…hope, perseverance, patience, trust, faith, and love.

A snowy winter day, or even a blustery rainy one, can be a reminder to spend some time alone with the Lord.  Spend some time quietly, silently, reading the Word.  Spend time in a gentle spirit of prayer.  Spend time contemplating the rich blessings of our God.  Even if you work, it can be quiet time given to the Lord.  When four snowflakes, or more, fall together on my driveway, I am outside with shovel in hand.  It is a time to enjoy the exercise, and to exercise the practice of God’s presence in prayer.

Your day may not be blustery, snowy, or in any way given itself over to inclement weather.  That’s okay.  Whatever the day brings it is a good day, and a good time, to let the inner beauty shine.  It is a good day for the Spirit to testify to your spirit that you are a child of God.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO