My husband and I planted a lovely Bradford pear in the front yard of the only home we ever had the pleasure of paying a mortgage on during our five years in Ringgold, GA. We placed it in the middle of the yard and were ignorant to the happenings that fell to the ground. Where we live now, a row of Bradford pears line the tiny street on both sides of our apartment complex. We are no longer unaware of what happens beneath the trees as the birds bombard devouring the blooms that have gone to seed. They have no worry of their neighbor taking the last tiny morsel for the seeds on the trees are numerous. It does wreck havoc on the sidewalk below as the remaining leftovers drop. Tiptoeing down the sidewalk to get into your car “berry-free” is near impossible. But my dear husband tries his best for several reasons: 1) He doesn’t want the mess under his shoes 2) He doesn’t want the berries in the floorboard of the car, and 3) He doesn’t want to track them into the house. So we both try really hard to keep the berries from getting lodged under our shoes and  thus, staining things. With this New Year, once again, we have a clean slate, just like each day. Can we walk through it without stepping where we shouldn’t? Can we keep ourselves “unstained by the world” (James 1:27).  Only if we are deliberately in the Word and meditating on the Truth of the Word. That’s what brings change and keeps a believer from falling headlong into the sinking sands of sin. But when invited, the Holy Spirit will use the Word of God to shield our minds and hearts and feet and hands as we walk, and stand, and sit with stain-free garments.

Psalm 1:1-2, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.”

Charles R. Swindoll in his book, Living the Psalms, shares a paraphrase of these verses:

Oh, the happiness, many times over, of the man who does not temporarily or even casually imitate the plan of life of those living in the activity of sinful confusion, nor comes and takes his stand in the midst of those who miss the mark spiritually, nor settles down and dwells in the habitation of the blasphemous crowd. But (in contrast to that kind of lifestyle) in God’s Word he takes great pleasure, thinking upon it and pondering it every waking moment, day or night.