I have been using a walking stick since my Boy Scout days. While hiking the walking stick, or staff, helps with balance and stride, and can be used to push aside branches, underbrush, etc., and as a probe for interesting things found along the trail. I have a collection of walking sticks, the oldest from my senior year in high school. Some have designs carved in the bark.  The staff to the left is my most recent acquisition.  I cut it from a slippery elm sapling in New Hampshire back in the spring.

In the Bible the staff plays a symbolic role. Familiar to most is the mention of the shepherd’s staff in Psalm 23 “…Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me”. As our Good Shepherd, God uses His staff to comfort and guide us. Moses’ staff was both the symbol of authority and was also the instrument through which God showed His greatness to Pharaoh (Exodus 4:17).

During a recent quiet time I read in Zechariah 8:1-8, “…Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.” (vv4,5) This picture of peace in the land, where young and old alike are safe in the streets of the city, is God’s plan for His city Jerusalem. “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let your hands be strong, you who are listening…” (Zech 8:9). May I listen carefully and attentively, and strengthen my hands from now to old age, with staff in hand.