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Abundance of Things

One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year was to simplify.
 
Lately I have been trying really hard to get rid of stuff.  It is an ongoing battle, a struggle to keep what is necessary and let go of things that I don’t need, don’t love, that don’t fit, and don’t make me smile when I look at them.
 
I have a closet full of clothes, drawers full of stuff, cabinets full, pantry full, linen closet full. I have books and magazines everywhere– in bookshelves, in the bathroom, on the coffee table. I have 5 sets of dishes, 3 sets still packed away from our move fifteen years ago.
 
When I unpacked my winter things last fall, most didn’t fit, some never did. Most are outdated and a few in need of repair. The struggle right now is to mix and match the clothes I can wear so I can make it through this season without spending money on clothes.
 
One thing I have had to buy this winter is shoes. A woman must have shoes. I have lots of shoes, some of which don’t fit and never have but they are so cute.  Some of them need to be discarded but I might wear them in the garden this spring.
 
Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses.” Luke 12:15 NKJV.
 
My possessions do not determine who I am. My life is more than the  name brand of clothing I wear and the kind of purse I carry.
 
Have you ever thought that hoarding stuff is a form of greed or covetousness? Yes, that was a staggering thought to me too. I guess it is time to start giving more of it away.
 
No wonder Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive.
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Missing in Action

Several years ago the Department of Defense announced that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, 1st Lt. Shannon E. Estill, U.S. Army Air Forces, who was missing in action from World War II, had been identified and returned to his family for burial with full honors. He had been considered missing in action for over 50 years.
Many servicemen went missing during the Vietnam conflict and it appeared nothing was being done to find missing personnel. Several famous movies were made about men who went in alone to recover their missing comrades.
There are many missing-in-action people from our churches these days, those who no longer are with us. No, I don’t mean they are dead. I mean they have quit going to church. The number one reason is that someone in the church did something to hurt them and it was easier not to go back.
Christians, look around this Sunday and think about those from your congregation who are missing. Write their name down and make a note to call them this week and invite them to come back. Sometimes all it takes is one invitation, one person who acts like she cares, that will be the deciding factor in bringing these people back to the church. If you come in contact with someone who has left their church, take that opportunity to invite them to go to church with you this Easter.
Everyone ought to go to church at least on Christmas and Easter to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection. And if every person in town went to church on Easter Sunday, every church would be full.
Are you MIA? Missing in action from your church? If you just can’t go back to that church, find you a church where you can attend.
I know God’s heart’s desire is like mine—that every church in town be full and running over on Easter morning so people can hear the Good News.
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The Great Guide

Our neighbor man fished all the time. He fished for crappie, bass, catfish, I guess just about every kind of fish there was. I remember the time he came home from fishing with a giant turtle, and all of us kids played with it. Some even had their pictures taken riding on the back of the turtle.
As far as we were concerned, he didn’t work. He just played around and fished all the time. As I grew up, I learned that he was a well-known fishing guide in northeast Oklahoma, maybe the best in all of Oklahoma. When people planned a fishing trip on Grand Lake, they frequently hired him to take them fishing, since he knew when the fish were biting, where they were located, what the fish were biting on.
I don’t know much about fishing but our neighbor Dutch Faulconer did, and because Dutch had fished so much in Grand Lake, he was a great fishing guide.
The way I understand it, a guide is one who has been where you want to go, has fished for what you want to fish for, and caught what you want to catch. He knows all the right places, because he has been there, lived through it, and brought back the fish to eat.
The Lord Jesus walked the dirt roads of this earth. He lived through all the circumstances of life.  He knows what we are going through. He knows the places to go, the best way to walk. He’s the only man ever to walk this earth who didn’t sin. “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses since he had the same temptations we do, though he never once gave way to them and sinned.” Hebrews 4:15 The Living Bible.
 
“I will instruct you (says the Lord) and guide you along the best pathway for your life; I will advise you and watch your progress.” Psalms 32:8
 
God is our great Guide in everything we do. Where He leads me, I will follow.
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When Morning Comes

When you cross the International Date Line, today becomes tomorrow or yesterday. When traveling west to east, for instance, from the island of Tonga to the island of Samoa, which takes two hours by plane, the passenger arrives yesterday, the day before he left. And going from east to west causes a passenger to arrive tomorrow.

Passage of time has been one of the hardest issues for a science fiction writer to deal with. Writing about space travel used to require the reader to suspend his knowledge of science and enter the land of make-believe, but now many of the things sci-fi writers have written about have proven to be scientifically true.

We’ve been told we can’t turn back the clock but in Samoa or Tonga, that isn’t true. You can go back to yesterday. However yesterday will never be the same, and some things can never be changed.

“Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.” Psalms 30:5 NKJV.

When I am crying my eyes out, it seems as though morning will never come. I cannot see the morning sunshine for the clouds of depression hanging over me. Sadness swallows up day after day, leaving me with no tomorrow, only yesterdays. My imagination runs wild, driving me crazy with “what might have been,” but nothing is certain.

Questions of regret. “If I could just go back in time and take back those words.” “We were so happy back then. What happened?” “She was too young to die.” “How could he do that to me?”

But Mama always said, “time changes things.” My Father God is the God of time too. He can roll back time like a scroll and in one instant of time, He can undo the damage that was done. You will always have the memory of what happened, but God will remove the hurt in your heart, if you will trust Him to do it. Time is no match for a great God like ours.
Remember,  morning is always coming and joy comes in the morning.
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This is the Confidence

 

Every time we kids needed something, we went to Mama. Whether it was something to eat, or clothes, or something special for school, we knew she would come up with it.

When we were in school, each year we got new school supplies. When we were in Home Economics in high school, Mama always came up with the money to buy our sewing supplies. Some of my friends didn’t take Home Economics because they didn’t have the money for it, but it didn’t bother our mom. Somehow she came up with the money and she let us pick out our sewing patterns, fabric, and all sewing supplies. She didn’t even try to talk us into buying cheaper fabric.

When school pictures were taken, each of us 4 kids ordered the full school package of 8x10s, 5x7s, and even little pictures to trade with our friends. Many of my friends now tell me they didn’t ever buy their school pictures and don’t have any of those now.

Before you think that was no big deal, you should know that Mama took in ironings when we were very young, and then when we all were in school she went to work at the school cafeteria.

After we were grown, we often called Mom to pray for us, because we knew that she knew how to get hold of God. We had great confidence in her prayers until the day she passed away.

We had confidence that whatever we needed, Mama would be sure we received it. We weren’t embarrassed to ask, because we knew she loved to give us not only what we needed, but things we wanted too.

“This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. So if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have whatever we asked of Him.” I John 5:14-15 Modern English Version.

Having confidence in my mother taught me to have confidence in God. Just as my mother loved to provide for her children, how much more will our Father God provide everything we need.

 

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Silver Leaf Maple

Grandmother had a great shade tree in her backyard,  a giant silver-leaf maple tree. The backyard facing east was always so shady and cool, almost like being out in the country. Grandmother’s house was just a three-room cottage, so peaceful and quiet.

I don’t recall who discovered the silver-leaf maple tree had fallen over or even which day. There might have been some wind, we aren’t sure, but the weather had been sunny. Grandmother had moved to heaven several years before and no one was living in her house.

The tree was pulled completely out of the ground, with its roots showing, an empty hole left behind. The tree trunk lay on the ground, the trunk at the base about 3 feet in diameter.  The roots were all showing– little roots, fat roots, but no tap root, not a single long root going down deep into the earth.

Jesus told a story of the farmer who went planting seed. “The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. But they don’t have any roots, and they don’t last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.” Mark 4:16-17 Contemporary English Version.

We’ve all seen people in the church, friendly, carrying their Bible, slipping a $20 in the collection plate. They come to church a couple of times a month and always show up on Easter and Christmas, but when hard times come, they fall away from the church.

When one loses his job or problems come in their marriage or they have trouble with the children, instead of running to God and the church, they seek out the advice of their non-Christian friends.

“The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.”” Psalm 92: 12-13.

It’s time to get planted in church and grow a deep root.