If you have followed my posts for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that over the past 4 months I have been as inconsistent in sharing a morning meal as I think I have ever been since I started back in 2008. While I haven’t stopped beginning my day in the Word, it’s often been difficult finding the time to to pause and process the Word.

How come? Available time. And why’s that changed? Amount of sleep. Me and sleep have not always been the best of companions over recent months. Between stuff outside the home setting my mind to racing (and my soul to praying) through the night, and two little boys inside the home requiring through the night visits and early morning starts, it’s been harder these last few months to get the chunk of time I need in the morning for reading, chewing, and sharing. It’s been a harder than usual season.

But this morning I start my reading plan again for next year, and that with renewed hope that I’ll find again the rhythm for my morning meal.

So, I awaken, grab a cup of coffee, open up a new copy of the bible ready to be colored, and I reacquaint myself with the opening words of four old, familiar friends — Genesis, Psalms, Matthew, and Acts — each greeting me with familiar readings. Familiar friends but out of a new version of the Bible. This year, I’ll be opening the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) each morning. Looking forward to a bit of freshness amidst the familiar.

Today, it’s Psalm 1 that’s given me something a little extra to noodle on this morning.

How happy is the one who does not
walk in the advice of the wicked
or stand in the pathway with sinners
or sit in the company of mockers!
Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams
that bears its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

(Psalm 1:1-3 CSB)

In its season. That’s what I’m chewing on this morning.

There’s a promise in this opening song of the Psalter. A promise about what to expect based on who or what you hang out with. Though there may be pleasures to be found from walking with the wicked, standing with the sinner, and breaking bread with mockers, it’s fleeting and short-lived (Heb. 11:25), and actually counter-productive when it comes to lasting happiness. But hanging with God’s word is gonna bring about the blessedness of drinking deep from flowing streams of Spirit-induced living water (Jn. 4:10, 7:38-39). Delighting and meditating in God’s law will result in endurance in the present and in prosperity over the long-haul — bearing fruit in its season.

In its season . . . that’s the “we walk by faith” reminder (2Cor. 5:7). Current seasons may seem anything but energizing and prosperous. But the songwriter reminds me that fruit-bearing is a long game. That victory can be a frustrating, even tortuous concept if we expect to see it every day in every situation.

Instead, we keep going to the Word — reading it, delighting in it, meditating on it — and know the daily happiness of being “like a tree planted beside flowing streams.” We can know daily its sustaining vitality as we experience the ever-present reality of communion with the Father, by the Spirit, through the living Word of His Son. And we remind ourselves that the promise of fruit-bearing and prosperity will one day be fulfilled, in its season.

Praise God for the promise of a season to come. Thank God that in this season His word will continue to produce and to feed deep, strong roots if we faithfully walk in its advice, stand in its pathway, and sit in its company.

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.