by Sandy Kirby Quandt

Have you ever noticed the difference between plants and grass that are constantly exposed to the heat of direct sunlight, compared with plants and grass that receive shade? The shaded plants and grass seem better able to thrive when the intense summer heat comes than those that do not get any relief from the heat. Simple right? Makes perfect sense. The shade offers relief.

Let’s look at our lives and think of them as plants in the direct heat of irate employers or customers. The heat of strained relationships. The heat of worries and cares that feel as if they will burn us to a crisp. The withering heat of condemning words. False accusations. Endless pain.

I’d venture to guess we’ve all had our share of being scorched without the relief of a bit of cooling shade. It hurts. It wilts our soul. It zaps our energy and strength. It leaves us listless and ready to give up.

But we do not have to live in the blazing heat of day because God is our protector who shades us with his love. Just as the cool shade of a large oak offers relief, the shade of God’s love offers us relief from the heat of our world.

Unlike plants and grass that can’t get up and relocate to a shadier spot, we have the choice of whether to rest and be refreshed beneath the shade of God’s love, or stubbornly stay outside it withering in the heat we face day after day.

Our choice. Which will you choose? Shade or heat?

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The Lord is your protector, there at your right side to shade you from the sun. You won’t be harmed by the sun during the day or by the moon night. Psalm 121:5-6 (CEV)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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