By: Elizabeth Haarberg

Love Where You Are

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

I was listening to a song this weekend and was convicted. The song is “I Believe” by Jason Ingram, Steffany Gretzinger, Amanda Cook, and Jonathan and Melissa Helser. The line that hit me is, “I will see your goodness, Lord, in the land I’m living in.” I have struggled living in Nebraska in the winters. The harsh winters with wind, snow, and bitter cold have left me bitter. But I was convicted that if I want to see the place where I’m living experience blessing, I can’t curse the same land.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. Proverbs 18:21 ESV

If we complain about our homes, weather, schools, and churches, it should be no surprise that we see little life. The comments, “I hate living here” or “This school is terrible” give minimum to the situation.

I was aware of my poor attitude before I heard this song, but it dug the point in deeper. I’m not a native Nebraskan nor a native of the Plains area and longed for the warm areas where I grew up and spent so much time, but, I’m not living in those places right now, I’m in central Nebraska where things are different from what I’m accustomed to. The good news is, even though I reside in Nebraska, my true home is in heaven.

“But our citizenship is in heaven…”

If you’re living in a place that is not familiar to you or if you have lived in the same place your entire life and can’t seem to “get out,” there’s good news. Begin to bless the land you are living in, the schools, churches, and weather and watch the change not only in how you perceive your situation but watch how life begins to grow in the “dead” places. Life and death are truly in the words we speak and in our thoughts.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado