He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  Psalm 91:1

Our Christmas tree is fake…

It comes from the great forest known as the “Christmas tree factory”.

Every year it makes the long journey from the basement to the family room…

Where our two cats watch…

Waiting…

As we move the tree into place and set it in its stand.

As soon as it is upright…

They dash for the tree…

Seeking shelter beneath it.

Cats are small and vulnerable …

Sleeping on high spots to see predators approaching…

Huddling under trees…

Seeking shelter from the wind…

And the cold…

And the rain.

Our cats have never lived outdoors.

But as soon as we bring the tree upstairs, some part of their brain seems to shout…

“Tree! Shelter! Safety!”

Never mind that neither the tree nor its shelter are real.

They are seeking shelter …

And they have found it.

We humans are small and vulnerable, too…

Facts we sometimes fail to remember.

But when we do…

We dash for the nearest shelter…

Sometimes seeking shelter in greed…

In the accumulation of money and things with which we surround ourselves

… “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”  Luke 12:15

Sometimes seeking shelter in prestige…

…many who are first will be last, and the last first.  Matthew 19:30

Sometimes in the illusory power of this world…

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty… 1 Chronicles 29:11

We look to earthly things for shelter…

Because they are easy to see…

Forgetting they are also temporary …

… look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:18

Forgetting that only God offers true shelter…

Shelter for this world and the next…

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Psalm 91:1-2