Any good therapist will tell you that walking has profound psychological benefits when dealing with depression or anxiety. There is something about being outside with the wind on your face and a big sky above you that helps reorient our perspective.

To abide in God is to live in the reality of His love, just as a child lives in the security of a well-loved home. When we abide in Christ, we are not striving to earn our place, but instead we are resting in the truth that we are already welcomed.

In the next few days, I hope you can take some time to pause and reflect as 2024 comes to a close. There is a mix of emotions for me: gratitude, amazement, and a bit of grief and disappointment too. I wonder if you feel the same.

Perhaps when Jesus spoke of the mustard seed, He was inviting us to shift our focus from the measurable to the relational. A seed doesn’t strive or hurry—it simply grows as it is nourished. Similarly, our spiritual growth often happens in the small, quiet places: a moment of stillness, a whispered prayer, or a creative expression of gratitude.

This fall, I invite you to join me in a reflection on holy indifference. What would it look like to let go of striving to control the outcomes and instead be content with God’s timing?

What would it look like for you to be more aspen than oak? Instead of standing strong, independent, and alone, could you become more vulnerable, dependent, and interconnected? The world we live in is much more enamored with oak tress than aspens.

I think most of us understand the importance of coming alongside someone in their time of grief and pain, but I love that this scripture also calls us to rejoice together.