Close your eyes for a minute and picture yourself walking through a beautiful garden full of spectacularly colored flowers, along a deserted beach as the waves lap at your feet, or through the rainforest in Brazil with its magnificent array of color. Maybe you’ve vacationed in the Caribbean and been captivated by the crystal clear blue water and stunning white beaches. Or it could be you have visited New York City during the Christmas Season, with all its spectacular lights and pageantry. Regardless of the location, we humans enjoy beautiful scenery or landscapes. Psychologists state that we experience a positive mental effect or sensation when we see beautiful scenery and landscapes. We often describe those moments as breathtaking or “it took my breath away.”

There is also something about mountains, with their lush foothills, snow-capped peaks, and spectacular views that is breathtaking. In between mountains are valleys; that low area formed by erosion of the land by a river or stream. Valleys are often picturesque, but we sometimes miss their beauty due to the grandeur of the mountains that surround them.

Life’s journey is often described using mountain and valley language. When something has given us joy or excitement we say “I’ve had a mountaintop experience” and when the opposite occurs, we find ourselves “in the valley.” We want to walk on the mountaintops, but want nothing to do with the valleys.

It is in those moments when we find ourselves in the valley that God does His best work. We tend to cry out to God when we are looking up at the big looming mountains more so than when we stand on the top of the hill looking down at what is below. I have been there, and, be honest, so have you. Maybe you are there right now.

We learn more in our valley experiences than on our mountaintops. We learn more about ourselves and we learn more about God. And even though you might not always be able to see God in the valley, He is there. When the resurrected Jesus spoke to His disciples in what is known as the Great Commission, His final words to them, and to you today, were – “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).

These words from Psalm 23:4 are often used at funerals, but they convey so much more than God’s presence and comfort when someone dies – “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” David is speaking of some sort of fearful experience. The valley language infers that David feels boxed in, surrounded, restricted in some way. The shadow of death is not death itself, but rather, this shadow is casting some fearful outline across David’s path. But notice what David says, because of the shepherd’s presence and under the shepherd’s leading, he will walk through this valley. He is not destined to permanently remain in this valley.       

So, today, in the midst of the whether the scenery you are looking at is stunning and spectacular, or all you see are the sides of mountains that seem to rise to insurmountable heights, hear these words found in Deuteronomy 31:8, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

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The time from Thanksgiving to Christmas is a wonderful time of year. A song written in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle, popularized by singer Andy Williams, tells us so. You know the song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Not only does the song tell us that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, but it also makes the claim that, “It’s the hap-happiest season of all.”

For many, the long holiday season is one of great joy, excitement, anticipation. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Turkey. Stuffing. Gravy. Pecan pie. Jesus. Santa Claus. Undisturbed snow under the night sky. Family gatherings. Holiday parties. Seasonal music. Baking cookies. Christmas caroling. Decorations. Hot cocoa by the fireplace. Eggnog. Magnificent light displays. Ralphie Parker. Clark Griswold. Cousin Eddie. George Bailey. Doris Walker. Kevin McCallister. Ebenezer Scrooge. Mr. Grinch, Rudolph. Frosty. Hermey the Misfit (Dentist) Elf. Yukon Cornelius. Hallmark movies. Ugly sweaters. Christmas Eve candlelight church services. And so much more. Oh, and may I add one more descriptor of this season… exhausting. 

But this holiday season can also be a very difficult time for some people. It could be that they’ve had a very challenging year financially. Or maybe they have some health issue that has worn them down, zapped their energy, created a future filled with uncertainty. Possibly a long-term relationship went sour and there is lingering pain or guilt from that ended relationship. Is someone new to your community, not having made many friends yet, therefore left off the neighborhood party invitation list? This season will be also hard for those who experienced the recent death of a loved one. There will be that sense of loneliness and sorrow. Those missing gifts and that empty chair make it no secret that life has changed.

We all know someone who would say that 2024 was not the most wonderful of times. In fact, that person might even say this year downright stunk, and that 2025 cannot come soon enough. How about coming along side that person and simply be a friend. Our presence says to them, “I care.” Not only that, God can work through us to give that brokenhearted person a sense of hope and encouragement. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of this season, what better gift is there than to be a friend to someone who is hurting.

The Bible tells us to do that very thing. In Galatians 6:2 we read this, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you fulfill the law of Christ.” This does not mean we should take on their burdens. We have enough of our own. In fact, in v.5, we read “for each should carry their own load.” The Greek word used here for “load” is phortion, which refers to a personal burden that is non transferrable. So, bearing someone’s burden is not taking responsibility for it. Rather, we come along side someone to aid, to assist, to lighten the load. Help them carry their load (phortion).  

“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” Proverbs 18:24.

“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10.

So, this Thanksgiving to Christmas Season, be a friend to someone, and just quite possibly helping to make this the “hap-happiest season of all” for them.

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Even through it is November, picture yourself cruising down the smooth highway with the top down on your convertible “Little Deuce Coupe” when all of a sudden, without warning, you encounter a patch of very rough road. You slam on the brakes to slow down your car, but not before the car is rattled to its core. Your iced tea flies out of the cup holder and spills in your lap, The Beach Boys CD you were listening to skips due to the jolt, your dog in the backseat yelps, and your car’s electronic anti-skid control system kicks in to keep the car from careening totally out of control.

After what seems like an eternity, you finally get the car slowed down, pull onto the shoulder of the road, and it is at that point you and your passenger look at each other and simultaneously yell, “What was that?”

Sound familiar? Not only is the highway full of potholes and speed bumps, life too is full of rough and bumpy patches. Sometimes they just cause us to tap the brake ever so gently simply to slow down, other times they are craters or mountains that cause us to slam on the brakes in order to avoid crashing. Sometimes we see the bump ahead and we can prepare, other times it comes out of nowhere and we find ourselves upside down along side the road wondering what just happened.

None of us like when life seems to spin out of control. In those moments of spinning out of control, or when you sit upside down in your car, despair and hopelessness often sets in. The confidence and peace you had as you were cruisin’ down the road have turned to fear and worry. In the blink of an eye, your dreams and plans for the future have changed.

It is in that very moment that you can turn hopelessness to hopefulness, the fear into calm, and the insecurity to security. God tells us that He is in control and that nothing is too hard for Him. It is often hard to understand why bad things happen and even harder to understand, if not impossible, to see in advance how God is at work. But our faith is rooted in the truth that God is sovereign and in absolute control of everything. In our limited perspective, God’s ways to do not always make sense to us, but Scripture tells us that His ways are higher than our ways. In Isaiah 55:9 we read this, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

So, just when you think the road ahead looks too bumpy or the hole seems too deep to climb out of, reprogram your GPS towards God and ask Him to lead and guide you. These next words are the beginning of a prayer the prophet Jeremiah prayed when he had doubts while facing a very difficult situation. In Jeremiah 32:17 we see him cry out… “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth (see Genesis 2:1) by your great power and outstretched arm (see Jeremiah 27:5). Nothing is too hard for you (see Genesis 18:14).”

The pothole(s) might not disappear, but the confidence that we are not navigating the bumpy road alone should be comforting. We find these words in Psalm 46:1 – “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in (times of) trouble.” 

I will end with God’s reply to Jeremiah – “Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ‘I am the LORD, the God of all mankind, Is anything too hard for me?’” (Jeremiah 32:26-27)

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We live in a world full of choices, often choices we can pick and choose from. I recently needed to buy some body wash. Who knew that could be so hard, with every scent from teakwood to tropical coconut. They even had deep woods. Wouldn’t that attract mosquitoes?

Not into body wash scents? Okay, then think back to the last time you went out to eat. When you can order individually priced items off the menu, it is called À la carte. The literal meaning of the French phrase is “by the card,” but is commonly used to mean “according to the menu.” As opposed to À la carte, a set meal (grilled chicken with a salad and two sides) at a fixed price is table d´ hôte, which comes from the French phrase, “the host’s table.” This is the type of restaurant menu we are most accustomed to seeing. A third menu is known as prix fixe, which is one price for all courses served together as a meal.    

Many times, we want to follow God à la carte. We want to pick and choose which of God’s commands to embrace. God has given us free will to choose between good and evil, right and wrong, love and hate, etc. Paul tells us that we have freedom in Christ. In Galatians 5:13 we read this, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom in indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”

This freedom we have is a liberty (free from restrictions) not a license (permission granted to do something). What I mean by that is our freedom is not a permission granted to indulge our flesh. Galatians 5:19-21 gives us a list of the sinful acts of the flesh. This list is à la carte; each behavior is “separately priced” and can be “ordered” on its own. I can have outbursts of anger without being sexually immoral. I can struggle with envy without practicing witchcraft. 

Today I want to focus not on the acts that our sinful nature is capable of, but rather, I want to look at the fruit that comes by living in the Spirit. The “Fruit of the Spirit” consists of attitudes and actions that should all be evident in followers of Jesus. In this context, the word “fruit” is in the singular form, meaning it is not an À la carte menu to pick and choose from. These nine fruits, like a table d´ hôte menu that does not allow for picking and choosing, come as one “set meal.” I cannot model kindness but leave out patience or self-control     

Let’s switch images from restaurant menus to actual fruit. But first, sometimes the English language is rather confusing. A cluster (singular noun) of grapes is singular whereas a bunch (collective noun) of bananas is considered plural. Looking at it another way, this Spirit fruit is like a bunch of grapes, all one cluster, as compared to separate and differing bananas, ones we can pick and choose from.

So then, just what is this fruit? In Galatians 5:22-23 we find, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there in no law (NASB).”

These virtues need no classification, but to help understand them, let me offer three categories. The first three can be viewed as habits of our heart, the second three as social values, and the last three concern how we are to be in ourselves.

Leave À la carte at the restaurant. Pass by the bananas. Ask God to help you grow fruit in your life from His singular cluster of grapes.

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Are you someone who enjoys standing around with friends singing popular songs into a microphone over pre-recorded music? We call this type of entertainment “karaoke.” Year after year, a favorite karaoke song is one written by Paul Anka and popularized by Frank Sinatra. You know the song, titled “My Way,” and the words, “I did it my way.” According to karaoke experts (there really is such a thing), the most popular karaoke song is Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.”

There is something to be said about charting your own course through life rather than simply following in someone’s footsteps. In fact, Robert Frost wrote a well-known poem titled “The Road Not Taken” which begins with the words “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both” and ends with this –

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages hence and hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

But “my way” or the “one less traveled” is not what God desires of us when we submit to Him. The Bible is full of people who did it their way, beginning in the Garden of Eden. Chapter 27 of Genesis might just be the most disobedience filled chapter in the entire Bible. It narrates the “My way” actions of one very dysfunctional family. 

But if we truly love God and we trust that His ways are better than our ways, then we will desire to live out that love and trust in our actions. Obedience to God is defined as submitting our ways, our wills, to Him. As you can guess, the Bible is also full of references to “God’s Way.” In Genesis, Chapter 12, Abram (later named Abraham) showed no hesitation when God instructed him to “go from your country.”

Joshua was told to march around Jericho for seven days and then the city would be destroyed (Joshua Chapter 6). And of course, Jesus is our ultimate example of obedience, even when it was painful. In the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46), He cried out to God, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

After a long night of fishing and pulling their nets up empty, Jesus asked master fisherman Simon (Peter) to go back out and try again. It is likely that Simon wasn’t too happy with that request, but here is his response to Jesus, found in Luke 5:5 – “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”  

Now here is obedience I seriously hope God never asks of me – “In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, ‘Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet.’ And he did so, going naked and barefoot” (Isaiah 20:1-2). The text goes on to tell us that Isaiah walked around naked and barefoot for three years.

The word karaoke comes from two Japanese words: “kara” which means empty and “oke” which means orchestra. Doing life our own way often does leave us feeling empty. Jesus, in the opening words of the Lord’s Prayer says this, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

So, today I encourage you to fully submit your will to Jesus and leave “I did it my way” to what you sing when you gather with friends around the Karaoke Machine. Me doing life “my way” is simply bad strategy. You doing life “your way” is simply bad strategy.

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Wildfires are some of the most potentially dangerous natural disasters. In just seconds, a spark can set off an inferno that can overtake thousands of acres, threatening property and lives in its path. Once a wildfire begins, it can spread at up to 14 miles per hour. For combustion to occur, three things need to be present – fuel to burn, air to supply oxygen, and some heat source to bring the fuel up to its ignition temperature. When fighting wildfires, the firefighters work to remove one of the components of the fire triangle (fuel, oxygen, heat) in order to contain and eventually extinguish the fire.

In recent weeks, due to the extreme dry conditions, we have wildfires burning on both coasts, destroying everything in their paths. Scripture talks about our tongue in that same way. If left uncontrolled, our tongue is like a spark that can set a forest on fire, causing unfathomable destruction.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, likened an uncontrolled tongue to that of a spark that sets a forest on fire – “If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” (James 3:3-6).

He goes on to say that an uncontrolled tongue is also like a restless evil, full of deadly poison (v.8). Sadly, we see forest fires and deadly poison in so much of today’s dialogue.

Conversely, our words can also be of tremendous kindness and hope to those who hear them. Or who read our words on social media platforms. The Bible speaks frequently about guarding what comes out of our mouths. Let me share three verses –

 Proverbs 12:18 (NIV) – “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Ephesians 4:29 (GNT) – “Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.”

Proverbs 16:24 (ESV) – “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”

So, today, I ask you and I ask myself – is your (my) tongue a honeycomb, sweeter than honey, or a spark, one capable of igniting the forest? 

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