Devotionals December 23

A Leaf of Hope

“When the dove returned to [Noah] in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Genesis 8:11 NIV

An olive leaf. Noah would have been happy to have the bird but to have the leaf! This leaf was more than foliage; this was promise. The bird had brought more than a piece of a tree; it brought hope. For isn’t that what a hope is? Hope is an olive leaf—evidence of dry land after a flood…

Don’t we love the olive leaves of life? “It appears the cancer may be in remission.” “I can help you with those finances.” “We’ll get through this together.”

What’s more, don’t we love the doves that bring them? When the father walks his son through his first broken heart, he gives him an olive leaf. When the wife of many years consoles the wife of a few months, when she tells her that conflicts come and all husbands are moody and these storms pass, you know what she is doing? She is giving an olive leaf.

We love olive leaves. And we love those who give them.

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume II