The deserts of life are long and dry
Making my pilgrimage a daunting adventure
That appears hopeless when I’m out or low
On water and patience at the same time.
By myself, endless losses leave me helpless
Especially when my sweat doesn’t produce
Commensurate bread. Yet, as I learn
To discern the voice and follow my Shepherd
It doesn’t matter where and when
It doesn’t matter what and how
He makes water gush out of rocks
Supplies green in dry places, and
Paves highways in the wilderness.

Food For Thought: We struggle so hard to make things happen. Some of us feel that things won’t happen for us if we don’t make them happen. A lot of times, it is proven true, fostering our dependency on what we can do for ourselves at the consequence of making faith null and void. While in college, I learned one of the most unforgettable lessons of my life: there is a place for faith and there is a place for work. You can’t take one and leave the other, you can’t overstretch one at the expense of the other: each must fit in its place in its time. Those who believe it’s all grace are lured to relax and just believe that everything will work itself out while those who believe it’s all work think their effort is all that is required. I learned that God is all we need to believe in, to discern the times and places where our faith must be exercised without compromise, and the very places where we must work our hardest to break through. When we sit back in faith, some things get done and some will wait until we get up and work them. When we marry what we believe to what we do in the best way that we can, God showers mercy and grace to aid the ones we can’t.

Scripture: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psalms 23: 1.

Prayer: Dear Lord, may I never walk alone: may I walk ever so close in Your steps O Shepherd of my soul, amen!