Sunday, April 17
Zechariah 9:9-12 or 12:9-13:9
Psalms 24, 29, 103
1 Timothy 6:12-16
Matthew 21:12-17
A morning, not long ago, I sat and observed a redheaded woodpecker, pecking wildly at the top of a metal-topped electricity pole. Woodpeckers, as we know, are not designed to peck at metal-topped poles, but, interestingly, he kept at it for quite some time. I stood there watching and thinking to myself, “Surely, he realizes that his pecking is worthless…he’s not making headway or receiving the benefits of the effort.” I marveled at his persistence and the image is still with me, weeks later.
Paul’s words to Timothy (from The Message) ”Pursue a righteous life — a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses” encourage us to be persistent in our faith. But I have to ask the question of myself, “Am I persistent in the faith that God has called me to? Or am I pecking away wildly at something that God did not design nor create for me?” I don’t want to be the person that God looks down on thinking, “Surely, she realizes that all that pecking is worthless, she’s not making headway or receiving the benefits of the effort.”
On this Palm Sunday, when nature bowed down in worship through the Psalms, let us continue to look to nature for lessons that remind us that Jesus made that trip to the cross so that our misplaced persistence can be re-directed with mercy and grace. It is only through Him that our persistence is made perfect.
Melissa Peter