August 12

”Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning.” (Ecclesiastes 4:13 NIV)

All living things change. The sparse pre-summer greenery is silently transformed to a burst of high-summer colors. Buds sprout in wonder that will in short wither and fall to the ground. High-summer gives way to autumn and life rests. All that lives is transformed.

If I want to live the new life in Christ, I must be willing to change, even if the change is painful. Karin Boye wrote, “Of course it hurts when buds burst…” That’s the case in nature. That’s how it is in my Christian life. That which is no longer pliable is dead.

Prayer

God, save me from becoming so foolish that I no longer dare to change. Help me to be alert to, and heed your warnings and to become ever more reformed in accordance with Your will for my life.