The First Words

Today we read Ezekiel 45-46 and Luke 1.

Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, had a hard time believing that his senior adult wife was pregnant.  When he questioned the angel, Gabriel told him that he would be silent 
during the remainder of her pregnancy.  It was God's way of putting him in the corner to give him some time to think....not a bad thing.

After the birth of John, friends and family wanted to know what his father wanted to name him.  Zechariah wrote down (unable to speak) that his name should be John.  Notice what happened next in Luke 1.64- And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 

I read, write, and study first thing in the morning when just me and the dogs are up. It is early and dark and pretty quiet (we do have a puppy).  My dogs don't talk much and I don't say much to them.  I just speak a few words of command as needed and give them a little love.  However, in a few minutes, I will get the family up.  After a time of God-given silence (while sleeping in the bed and studying in the den), I will begin speaking.  May I...may you..open our mouths today and do the same thing Zechariah did after his period of silence.  I hope we start out our conversational day blessing God, sharing the love of God, and enjoying what we have in Christ. 

I need to be warned, as some of you do, that my family is not as cheery in the morning as I am.  There will be challenging moments in a little while.  May our hearts be set with such an excitement and drive for the Lord that nothing defeats us. 

Have a blessed morning and an even better day!