I Am A Leaf...
by Patrick Mead, via Facebook originally written in 2020

A leaf is meant for a life on a tree
Until it isn’t
And comes the Autumn
Unknown and not understood by simple leaves
Or trees
And it falls…

A stream receives the leaf and swiftly
Sends it to places it never
Dreamed it would go.
Suddenly moving
Chaotic and frightening
Faster and faster into the shadows of the forest
And the sunshine of the meadow.

On and on it goes
Not of its own volition
But power sourced from another entity
For leaves know nothing of streams
And currents
Or gravity and journeys.
All it knows is that it didn’t plan this trip.
It bobs and shoots and slips and hops
As underwater rocks and sticks
Shape the stream from below
Unseen from above
Unknown to the leaf.

I am a leaf.
I thought I belonged to one place for all time.
But I was moved by forces I did not know
And could not understand. I was taken to new places
At speeds that terrified me.
I didn’t feel comfortable in the stream
Or moving at this speed
Sent there, now here, now over there.

I am a leaf in God’s stream.
His Spirit has sent me to places
I could not have imagined.
He showed me things beyond my tree
And what I considered my place.
I’m a leaf, not a boat, I cried
Again and again and
He replied, you are what I want you to be
When I need you to be
Where I need you to be.
And I will make you adequate for the journey
And take you places you never
Planned to be…
But first… let go of the tree.
Let go of your life.
Allow My Spirit to take you where it goes
When it goes.

I am a leaf
In God’s stream.
I did not plan to be here
And I might not be here long.
I do not know what shapes this stream
Or why the current flows this way not that.
But I trust the One who knows
Who planned it all
Who made trees and streams
And a place for me.

When we pray, we are engaging in combat—spiritual combat. The spoken words said in the Spirit are more powerful than our work. God spoke the world into existence; He did not work to create the world. Work is important, but prayer is more powerful. E. A. 3/5/2025
 

By Joni Eareckson Tada, from a weekly letter

Every year when I read through the Bible, I marvel at the astounding things God did in the Old Testament. Parting the Red Sea, making the sun stand still, and enabling a judge named Shamgar to single-handedly slaughter six hundred bad guys with a cattle prod. 

Today, we don’t see many talking donkeys or floating axe heads. And so, you have to wonder…is God serving up something less than glorious if, in this age, he reveals himself through a book rather than the pillar of fire and cloud of smoke? The answer? The acts of God are no less mighty today than the ones in the Old Testament. What God has given us in the present age is much more miraculous: Almighty God became flesh through Jesus Christ. That is like pouring the ocean into a sixteen-ounce glass. 

And there’s more to this miracle. The God of all-consuming fire on Mt. Sinai revealed himself as the God of mercy on Mt. Calvary who “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant…he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:7–8) When this same Jesus walked out of his grave, every benefit of his death and resurrection became ours. “In him we have redemption through his blood…according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will.” (Ephesians 1:7–9)

Unlike God’s people in the book of Numbers and Deuteronomy, we know the mystery of his will through the riches of his gospel. No longer dead in our trespasses, we are a new type of human, a new creation in whom the Spirit of God dwells. Nothing that the greatest prophet in the Old Testament enjoyed can be compared to that (not even Moses).

The Son of God said, “Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matt. 13:17). Jesus was talking about prophets like Moses, and that great prophet would’ve given anything to savor what we so often take for granted. So, here’s my point: the gospel provides you a banquet of blessings not to be nibbled at, but to be feasted upon. Taste his gospel-goodness throughout the Old Testament and compare and see just how great Jesus, the Son of God really is.

For God’s glory,
Joni