This morning, during the brunt of the wind and rain passing through from Hurricane Helene, I stepped into my sunroom to survey the trees bending and swaying from the storm. Like many of you, there's a few trees that we tend to keep an eye on that's shady in all the wrong ways particularly during bad storms.
As I was observing one such ominous tree during a particularly strong wind gust, I spotted a tiny little hummingbird with bullseye precision fly straight out of the leaves through the nastiest sideways gust and land on my hummingbird feeder right in front of me! He came shooting out of that tree as if the wind wasn't even blowing! My first thought was, "Wow, this little dude is seriously hungry!" But then it hit me as if the Holy Spirit was nudging me, he had a goal and he wasn't going to let the storm detour him from it.
After standing there in amazement watching him for a minute, Philippians 3:14 popped in my thoughts. No doubt that tiny fellow had to press toward the mark in order to obtain his tasty prize of brunch. I'm thankful for God's little reminders that we have a high calling of God in Christ Jesus and that we should press toward the mark. If he had stopped flying halfway there, he would have surely gotten injured by the wind and still be hungry.
So friend, today, hold on to the lifeline of Jesus Christ in your life. Keep going even when the world taunts you or your flesh says to back away from the things of Christ. There is a prize to be won. There is a Heavenly Father watching and wanting to reward you for your race, a Comforter with you encouraging you, and Jesus who is praying for you. Let's fly our path straight ahead for the Lord! Much love, JH
Awesome illustration! 😊