Clinging

I stepped outside yesterday morning to snap a picture of our beautiful sunrise.  I turned to walk back inside when it hit me that there was something else I needed to see and to think about.

I mean, I have seen this sight many times this winter, but it was like God was telling me to REALLY see it.

There, up in our big old pin oak, are squirrel’s nests.  It’s amazing that they can cling to those branches through all the wind, rain, storms, and snow.  

We don’t see those nests in the summer, but when all the leaves are gone, we see them clearly.

A couple weeks ago I was wearily getting ready for bed at the end of a long day.  Aaron’s behaviors that day had depleted me.  Future decisions we need to make for him were weighing on me. Other deep concerns pulled at my emotions.  Soon tears blurred my vision.

Those who have walked with God for a long time will know what I mean when I say that He spoke to my heart right then.  He reminded me of the many times in the past when I felt broken and how He told me to go to my Bible and look at what He had to say to me right then and there.

“Silly me,” I thought.  “Why haven’t I done that in a while?”

Laying there on my desk was my Bible, open to where I had been studying in the book of Joshua.  I looked down and this is the verse that I instantly saw:

“But you are to cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.”   (Joshua 23:8)

I just sat down and cried, this time with thankful tears for this simple yet profound reminder from God.

“Just cling to Me, Patty,” God said, “as you have done for all these years to this day.”

Such simple words but so impacting to me.

I’m no longer young.  I’ve walked with the Lord for a long time and oh, the many verses I have marked with the dates God gave them to me.  Times of trials that led to trust as God spoke to me through His word.

This time in my life is no different than all the other times that God has led and strengthened and sustained me.  

It’s like the squirrel’s nests that we can see when all the leaves are gone.

When the trappings of our lives are gone, what is seen?

When we are slammed with huge decisions, disappointment, a scary and unexpected diagnosis, a wayward child, an uncertain future, betrayal…whatever it is…

Will we cling to God like the squirrel’s nests clinging to the pin oak branches?

Will our trust be clear to us and to others even through our pain and our tears?

I now have “February 2026, Aaron,”  written beside Joshua 23:8.

And I’m working on clinging to God like a squirrel’s nest in the branches.