There is a thought that is in my mind from time to time that more is better...bigger is better and new is always the best way to go. I sometimes wonder if there is a Madison Ave. marketing firm camped out in my soul. Consumption creates jobs and jobs help all of us...so go for it Kurt ...consume, use, and don't forget to recycle.
Yet in the middle of that there is the thought that everything that comes into my hand is placed there by the Father...and my use of it says something about the value that I put on that relationship. Even before I put that down on the page, there is this push back...that says it is about work and I have a right to the results of my hard work.
James 1:17-18
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.
The reality is that the skills and abilities, gifts and graces that I may have are a trust given not just for my use but as an expression of The Father's love and care. Gifts are not to be grabbed and held with both hands tightly, but rather acknowledged first for their source and used as a blessing for those that can benefit from them.
So back to more...
What does more imply if the Father sends more to my hand?
Well, not to beat a theme into the ground but...grabbing is never good manners. A thank you or two helps...there is a need for thanksgiving and an enduring sense of gratitude for the mercies received...that they are the result not just of my efforts but the past reaches out through me
Anything practical that I ever learned about fixing stuff, or building things, or repairing houses I learned at the elbow of Eddie Brown...some of his skills somehow found their way into my hands. I dare not forget that those are skills given by the Father of lights...through my Dad...to me. I am only a means through which blessing can flow, if I allow it to happen. No reason for pride...as I admire that piece of work I finished for the umpteenth time...it was from the Father's hand through mine.
More is always a opportunity for looking beyond me and mine to the Father's family that surrounds me.
What gets in the way sometimes is another "M" word...mine. We can be king of the mountain and realize that we need to let ourselves be a channel through which blessings flow or end up sitting on a mountain that no one really cares about anyway.
Mine looks a lot different when I remember where it all came from in the first place.
What gets in the way sometimes is another "M" word...mine. We can be king of the mountain and realize that we need to let ourselves be a channel through which blessings flow or end up sitting on a mountain that no one really cares about anyway.
Mine looks a lot different when I remember where it all came from in the first place.
Psalm 113
7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;8
he seats them with princes,
with the princes of his people.9
He settles the childless woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.
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