Over the last twenty-nine years our devotional publication has gone through many changes. The first issue, in May of 1996, was a simple, one-page, text-only devotional published weekly via e-mail to subscribers. It is now full-color, multi-page, and published monthly—on the 15th—at our web site. It is available in three formats: including two PDFs, one in landscape, for easier viewing on screen (Reflections’ native and preferred format), and one in portrait, for printing.
August 2025 Issue
To read the text-only version of this issue, go here.
How uneasily, even fearfully we approach the Life-Dance we are invited to have with the Lord—our holy Groom. There comes that sweet moment when we accept His unconditional love in the form of our eternal salvation. We reach out and take it—often in the abstract: the invisible God’s love extended by grace, words of coaxing proffered often by a preacher. It is so easy that we think that that is all there is.
But then, after a while, we come to realize that instead of taking up residence, we have only cracked open the door—that though our eternity with Him is secured, there has yet to occur the full-flowering of our salvation. We must step out and take the hand of our new Savior, we must risk our reputation and comfort to conduct the rest of our lives in His company.
It is a dance—an exquisite, breathtaking dance with the dearest object of our affection. He is, in every sense of the word, our lover: tender, understanding, intimate. He stands before us with outstretched arms, saying, Take my hand. Come into my arms, and I will show you things you’ve never dared to dream. Trust me to lead you through every step, every turn that would have been too much for you alone. I love you with all my heart; with all my body I gave myself for you. Come into my arms.
The two-fold purpose of Reflections by the Pond is to, first of all, bring glory and honor to God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and then to build up believers into a higher—and deeper—level of sanctification.
And by His grace we will.
To access back issues of Reflections, use the pull-down menu at the top of the page.