Janet Benlien Reeves

“It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” –Isaiah 55:11 NLT   Picture this promise in action: God speaks and His Word travels out like a seed carried by a gust of wind. This wind, God’s Spirit, carries the Word to the exact place God intends for it to go: to a person, to a community, to a nation, or to the whole world. There, He nurtures it until it produces fruit such as salvation, growth, healing, conviction, restoration, reconciliation, comfort, or calling. In this way, God’s Word always completes its work. It prospers wherever it goes. God has sent the whole world His Word through the Bible and through the incarnate life of His Son, Jesus Christ. This Word reveals God to anyone who will listen; our God wants to be known! Therefore, He sends out His Word by His Spirit who makes it known through the lives of God’s obedient people, through the Church community, t...

This past weekend, I was working on my computer when I heard the shock of something hitting the house. Smack! Sudden silence. I didn’t investigate. Pinecones drop onto our metal roof all the time. They sound like tree branches bouncing down. In our house, C rash! equals a boy crying wolf. But when I walked into the bedroom a few minutes later, my husband asked if I’d heard the noise. “I did. What was it?” “I don’t know. I thought a bird hit the window, but I didn’t see anything.” He pointed toward the big picture window, shade raised. “Maybe it was your woodpecker,” I said. He rolled his eyes. Woodpeckers love our stainless-steel chimney pipe. They frequently wake Mike with their rapid-machine-gun-fire sound. I tend to wake up before birds do. I looked out the window and down to the deck below. “Well, it wasn’t your woodpecker,” I said. Mike looked to see what I was seeing. “Oh,” he said. It was a gray bird with a yellow chest and a strange beak that made me think she nee...

I didn’t even feel the injury when it happened. While baking brownies for my family, I put my hand inside the small canister of baking powder and twisted to scoop the last bit of white from the container. I turned to drop the baking powder into the bowl of dough and noticed a thin, but growing wider, red line on my hand. I was bleeding. Thankfully, I saw the injury before the red dripped into the bowl, or I would have had to start all over. I had cut my hand on the sharp metal edge left on the top of the canister where I had peeled the aluminum freshness seal away. The cut was deep, not deep enough for stitches, but deep enough that stopping the bleeding took some time. I bandaged my hand once, saw blood begin to pool at the sides of the bandage, and bandaged my hand again. Then, I went about the business of my day. The next day, I went to babysit my grandchildren. The oldest, age 6, noticed my injury while I was reading her a story. Her eyes went wide. “Memaw! Why do you have a cu...

 This morning's sunrise is burning     like Los Angeles. Clouds rise to block colors     as smoke from fire's source, Ever-expanding     to encompass the sky. Sunrise beauty will fade     as the city burns To rise again     tomorrow.

This afternoon, I stepped outside to find Tony the Squirrel sitting at the end of our front walkway. He froze, then hopped to greet me—one cautious bounce closer to me at a time. It took a minute or two. I didn’t move, only whispered. “Hello, Tony. Happy New Year. Thanks for coming to visit. That’s it. Keep coming. I’m safe.” This time of year, Tony, an Eastern Gray Squirrel , is a Squishmallow in the making, light gray with patches of reddish brown on his back, the top of his head, and the tips of his paws. His eyes are ever-imploring black beads. The last time I saw him, he hopped up on a rock in front of our house as my family pulled up in our car. He stood and waited to greet us as we made our way into the house. He’s the kind of neighbor who takes the time to say, “Hello.” Today, he hopped right up to my feet. I realized he could bite if he wanted and imagined him suddenly latching onto my leg. But I wasn’t afraid. Tony’s been around long enough to prove himself, long enough t...