One of the fantastic things about living in the Fraser  Valley and so close to the coast is the mists. They come and go, never the same from moment to moment or day to day.

They can conceal part of the landscape, only to open up or move on, leaving it again. Late Saturday morning, I snapped today’s image with my phone.

A layer of foggy mist covers most of the hill. The cell phone tower reminds me of a castle turret atop an island floating in the clouds, with nearby treetops appearing like more little islands.

A few moments later, it was all concealed from my view. Several minutes passed, and the entirety of the hill was visible again. It was as if the clouds were causing the scenery to play peek-a-boo with us.

Our lives have a lot in common with the mist. Our life may seem long in comparison to the entirety of time. It’s just a little blip on the radar. Our sixty, seventy, eighty, or more years color and shape things briefly, and then we’re gone, and things change.

It is by relatively few for a short season if we are remembered at all when we’re gone. People go to great lengths to ensure their legacies, endowing schools and libraries, buying stadiums, and more. Sooner or later, someone replaces them, and even that legacy disappears into the mist of time.

Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. Psalm 144:4

For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow. Job 8:9

For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. 1 Chronicles 29:15

I’m not writing to depress you about the shortness of life. Instead, I want to remind you what a precious gift each and every moment is.

Every breath we take is a gift from God. For believers, it is an opportunity to magnify the Lord and prepare for the blissful eternity of glory. For non-believers, this life is the closest they will ever come to paradise. Unless they turn to Christ before their passing, their eternity will make the worst days of their lives seem wonderful.

Cherish each moment. It truly is a gift for the believer. Even our hard times strengthen and shape us to be more like Jesus. A faith that has not been tested is only a wish.

I don’t know the specifics of what your day will bring. You might be on the mountaintop of joy and wonder, deep in the valley of pain and the shadow of death, or most likely somewhere in between.

If you know Jesus, rejoice because He will use your circumstances for good. If you don’t yet know Him, take the time today to surrender and be reconciled to God.

Whatever the day brings, know that God loves you and desires you to spend forever in Paradise with Him.

Be blessed

Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

Kevin

Gleanings From The Word

Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)

Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.

__________________________________________ 

Did you know that we have an email version? It has the same great content but in a different format.

Subscribe today: https://mailchi.mp/f27bbeb09c22/gleanings-1 

For an archive of many back issues, visit our website at https://gleaningsfromtheword.com.

© 2025 Gleanings From the Word, K.F. “Kevin” Corbin. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

Kathy and I have decided to add something new to  our Bible reading plans. We do those separately as we are using different plans and translations. I found a “Reading Through The Church Fathers” in a year plan.

That plan takes us through a curated introduction to the early church fathers over the course of the year. It’s made available by C. Michael Patton at Credo House Ministries.  The texts for the day are provided along with a narrated version of the text. We watch and listen together, stopping to discuss.

As Protestants, we often pay little heed to the church fathers. That is to our detriment. Like any commentator or preacher, the “fathers” can be in error in places but provide a wealth of insight into the faith and the Scriptures.

Most of these fathers lived before the Roman Catholic/Protestant separation, the Orthodox schism, and other divisions. They are a part of our shared Christian history and are enriching to read.

With that unsolicited plug set aside, let’s move into today’s Gleanings.

I recently read the Psalms, and the latter part of Psalm 65 particularly struck me.

You visit the earth and water it;
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide their grain,
for so you have prepared it.

You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.

You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,

the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy. 

Psalm 65:9-13

God, the creator of all things, lavishes great attention on His Creation. He cares for it and tends to it. He is not an absentee landlord who allows things to happen to His creation.

God appointed his children to be the stewards of this little planet we call home.

God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28

That verse has often been used to justify the wanton, wholesale rape of our home, its resources, and the exploitation of people. Yet, when we compare it to the Psalmist’s description of God’s tender care, we see how wrong such a view is.

We are called to be faithful stewards of all God has provided. Yes, the land, the sea, and the sky are provided for us to use. We do not have the right to abuse them, however. The abuses we pour out on God’s creation not only have the potential for harm to the generations to come but are an affront to God.

I am not advocating that we all become tree-huggers. While the environmental movement has many valuable elements, it also contains much pseudoscience and earth worship. I am advocating that we take a little more care of the earthly home God has provided us.

Perhaps the little bit one person does won’t make a difference, but if each of the 7 billion people on this little blue ball, third from the sun, does a bit, the effect will be tremendous.

Until next time, may you be a good steward of all God has given you.

Be blessed

Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

Kevin

Gleanings From The Word

Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)

Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.

__________________________________________ 

Did you know that we have an email version? It has the same great content but in a different format.

Subscribe today: https://mailchi.mp/f27bbeb09c22/gleanings-1 

For an archive of many back issues, visit our website at https://gleaningsfromtheword.com.

© 2025 Gleanings From the Word, K.F. “Kevin” Corbin. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.