Posted by: Jo | April 5, 2013

The Pursuit of Happiness

“To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness…” (Ecclesiastes 2:26)

I was interested to see in one of our local papers, a series of articles on “What Does Happiness Mean Today?” imageThe reporter had interviewed different people from all walks of life and had asked them to describe what it meant for them to be happy. The stories varied widely as to what individuals considered happiness to be. I was not surprised to read that many of those being interviewed agreed that having lots of money was not the answer.

Some of the other reasons seemed to me to be trite sayings that we have all heard repeated many times. For example, achieving your goals in life; dreaming that big dream; believing you can do it; finding that perfect job/ partner; believing in yourself etc. One story caught my eye that seemed a genuine reason for happiness. The person being interviewed had been a very successful and wealthy business woman, but had grown tired of the cut throat business world. One day she had been walking past a church and saw a man begging outside. She reached into her pocket to give him some change when a thought suddenly struck her that this was not the answer. Proper food is what this man needs, she thought. She boldly went into the church to find somebody and found the pastor. She was surprised when he agreed the local poor needed help and they had the room in the church basement, but no resources or man power to help. The surprising end to the story is that this woman gave up her business life, worked with the church to set up a kitchen, joined the church and was able to tell the reporter for the first time in her life she was truly happy providing good food for the poor. imageThese stories are usually found in Christian magazines, I was pleased to read it in the daily newspaper.

The book of Ecclesiastes has a very telling description of what is often the result of a life pursuing selfish gain, pleasure and one’s own happiness;

“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure…” (Ecclesiastes 2:10)

When this same writer surveyed how he had lived his life, this is how he viewed what now looked like a meaningless life.

“Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11)

I decided to explore what Scripture has to say about achieving happiness and discovered that happiness is never associated with the pleasing of oneself. True happiness emerges through our relationship with the Lord. That relationship inspires us to live meaningful lives and in so doing, blessings flow our way.

“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Psalm 146:5) (KJV)

The other theme of the article I was reading was Love. Some folk believed that if you had someone to love and somebody loved you that meant real happiness. I agreed in part with those being interviewed, but all of us know that human love is frail and often conditional and can change abruptly when circumstances change. The only perfect love we will ever find comes from our Heavenly Father.

Happiness in Scripture is always equated with blessings and in modern translations the word “happy” is translated as “blessed”.image

“Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways.” (Psalm 128:1)

So the striving for real happiness is close at hand, The Lord is anxious to pour out his lavish love upon us. His invitation to happiness based on his love is always available,

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed in the man who takes refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:8)

I found this quote while researching the word “happiness”

Real happiness and peace can be found in submitting to the commands of the Creator and the Sustainer of the world.

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Posted by: Jo | March 27, 2013

The Goodness of Good Friday

“That creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:21)

imageA little girl asked her mother, “Why is it called Good Friday when it was the day Jesus died, it sounds like a bad day to me?” The little girl is not alone in asking that question and a visit to the internet will find pages on the same question. There is a lot of theological discussion to be found as to when the day was given that name and various derivations for the word “good”, but I found one site which had asked the general public to contribute their thoughts about what was good about this momentous day in history. It was a beautiful rewarding time for me to read about the goodness people saw in the act of Jesus giving up his life for us.

Perhaps the foremost reason people saw goodness in this day, was the incredible realization for all of us that reconciliation between us and God had been brought about by our Saviour.

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18)

Freedom was the next most common theme running through the comments. No longer shackled by sin, on this day of goodness we have been set free.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Over and over again people wrote of this day as one of victory. Goodness had triumphed over evil. imageDeath had been defeated. Eternal life had been granted to all believers.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

The list went on and on of people who could see goodness pervading this day ; the display of the incredible unconditional love of our Saviour who even though he was suffering horrendous pain could look lovingly at sinners and whisper to his Father,

“Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing…”” (Luke 23:34)

Good Friday is a somber day and one in which we spend much time remembering the agony that our precious Saviour endured for us. A time for us to reflect on the huge price Jesus Christ paid to set us free. A time to examine ourselves and to remember that although we are unworthy Jesus considered us worthy enough to die for. At the imagesame time remembering the goodness that flowed through his mighty action on that day, makes us fall at his feet in deep gratitude as unworthy recipients of his grace and when we spend some time finding what the goodness of that day means to us personally, we grasp a deeper meaning for

“Good Friday.”

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Posted by: Jo | March 22, 2013

Trusting God To Provide

“For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says; ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land’” (1 Kings 17:14)

imageI have always loved telling stories, especially to young children, and as I was an elementary school teacher when I was young, I was able to indulge in this passion to my heart’s content. Later as a Sunday school teacher I had equal satisfaction telling children the wonderful, exciting, true stories found in God’s word. The Old Testament stories held a special fascination for me and as many of them are filled with so much action, I would get quite carried away with my dramatic rendition and was thrilled to often see little faces concentrated on mine waiting for the next word to come out of my mouth. The stories about Elijah and Elisha found in the two books of Kings are some of the most exciting. I was reading 1 Kings recently and thought as I often have before, how much the stories still have to teach us in our modern society. Trusting God to provide is often the theme of the accounts of these two amazing prophets and as I was reading about the severe drought brought about by God (1 Kings, Chapter 17) I was struck by the pertinence these stories have for us today.

Elijah himself was forced to trust that the Lord would provide and during the first part of the drought he lived near a brook and God sent ravens to feed him. Imagine what was running through his mind. Ravens to bring the food! Where would they find food? Could they be trusted to return every day? Could he trust God not to forget about him?

imageThe brook then dries up. Imagine what was running through Elijah’s mind now. Now I am in real trouble. What is going to happen to me? The next part of the story is a shining example of the wonderful way God provides for those who trust him. God sends Elijah to find a widow and when he meets her she is gathering sticks to light a fire and cook a last meal for herself and her son and then prepare to die because her food has run out. He asks her to first make him a small cake before cooking for herself and her son. Imagine what was running through her mind. Imagine what would run through our minds. Elijah tells her to trust that the Lord will keep her oil and flour supply constant until the end of the drought. She takes a giant leap of faith and does exactly what Elijah tells her to do and lo and behold her flour and oil last throughout the drought and she is able to share what the Lord has provided to also feed Elijah.

Trusting that God will provide often takes a leap of faith in our own lives. We may experience times like the widow when everything about the future looks bleak. In those times we are tempted to withdraw into our own fears and worries. We can forget that the Lord we follow is capable of overcoming huge obstacles which may look daunting to us. We forget all the times he has stood by us in the past.

The word “trust” is found all throughout the Bible. It is a general theme of God’s relationship with man and learning to trust him and his laws was a giant step for the children of Israel. Countless times the prophets and Psalmists urged the people to trust their Almighty God.

“When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid…” (Psalm 56:3 – 4)

imageA friend pointed out to me that “trust” is often associated with “obey” and I think the story of the widow illustrates this. She had to in faith and obedience use her last oil and flour to make the cake for Elijah, trusting that God would provide for her and her son. We too may often be asked to take that step of obedience in a situation we are in, trusting that the Lord will provide. The beautiful old hymn sums it up.

Trust and obey, there is no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

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Posted by: Jo | March 15, 2013

Prayer, A love Poem to God

“My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skilful writer.” (Psalm 45:1)

image Perhaps one of the best known writers of love poems is Elizabeth Barrett Browning who wrote an exquisite piece numbering the ways she loved Robert Browning in, “How do I love Thee?” She begins by replying to her own question by saying, “let me count the ways”, and spends the rest of the poem writing down an in depth study of her own feelings as to why and how she loves this man. I was re-reading this poem recently and enjoying her words when it suddenly occurred to me that writing down why you love someone reinforces and strengthens your love, and how Robert Browning must have felt when he first read his lover’s words. It is a wonderful practice to do this in our everyday life, writing down exactly how and why we love our spouses/ our children/ our parents.

I then remembered a workshop I had attended some time ago entitled. “Prayer and Praise in the Psalms.” Searching through the psalms to find these love poems was a very rewarding experience, but the exercise at the end of the day has stayed in my mind. We were asked to compose our own Psalm of prayer and praise to present to our Heavenly Father and to write down and count the number of ways we loved him. It was so refreshing not to present the Lord with a list of requests or a list of fears or pester him with doubts and beg to be re-assured, but to simply concentrate on loving him and to describe how that loving him stirred our hearts and became part of our being.

The psalmists truly knew how to do this and to present their writings as a gift to the one they adored.

“I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known to all generations.” (Psalm 89:1)

Telling the Lord that one of the ways we love him is when we sing out aloud and praise his name is a great way to start.

“But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love…” (Psalm 59:16)

Another one to add to the list is to tell the Lord that starting in the morning being aware of his love and strength sets us up for the rest of the day.

“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” (Psalm 63:3)

Acknowledging that we love him more deeply than life itself gives great credence to his all surpassing love.image

“The earth is filled with your love, O Lord…” (Psalm 119:64)

Loving him through nature is recognising the Creator’s gift to us.

Once we start consciously concentrating on our loving response to God’s love, a remarkable change takes place; our love for him deepens, we are more aware of his love, we become more lovable towards others, we even grasp that he sees us as loved children of his.

Perhaps this little prayer I came across would be a great start for any of us to write a psalm to our Heavenly Father and dedicate it to him.

“Instil in my heart a desire to know and love you more every day”

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Posted by: Jo | March 8, 2013

Giving Thanks

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name” (Psalm 100:4)

imageSeveral years ago my husband and I spent a holiday with our daughter and her two little girls, who were then about four and six, at a seaside cabin. We always said grace before meals, but we were anxious for them to learn to speak to our Lord in their own way, so every morning after we had said grace we started a little tradition. Everybody at the table would take a turn to thank God for something in their lives. Their response to this was so sweet I think the Lord himself smiled. At first the prayers were very simple ranging from; thank you for my new bathing suit to thank you for my Teddy Bear, but as they had to choose a different reason to thank God every morning, soon their prayers became sentences in which they were conversing with God as if he were their friend. At the end of the holiday we were delighted to hear the six year old exclaim at our last breakfast, “I like doing this.”

The Psalmists knew the importance of giving thanks to our Lord. Over and over again we read of the importance to stop and give thanks to the Lord;

In Psalm 30, David realises that it is through the Lord that “his wailing has turned to dancing”

“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me in joy that my heart may sing to you and not be silent, O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” (Psalm 30:11 – 12)

Often when we go through some ugly experience and come out the other side, we forget who was going through it with us. We often put our success at dealing with a situation down to our own prowess or a lucky imagecoincidence. Earlier on in Psalm 30, David had called to the Lord for help; “To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy.” Psalm 30:8 – David acknowledges who really helped him by his fervent thanks to the Lord.

Giving thanks when everything is going well or if you have a new bathing suit or a Teddy Bear you love, is easy; it is in those hard times when everything seems bleak that uttering those thanks becomes more difficult. When Paul was writing to the Thessalonians he entreated them to remember to give thanks whatever was happening in their lives.

“Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16 – 18)

Many years ago I clipped out of a church bulletin a beautiful little message about giving thanks. I pasted it in the inside of my Bible so I would read it often.

Thanks

When her daughter ran away from home,

She gave thanks for the friend who came to help her with the search.

When his son was killed.

He gave thanks for gentle memories and the friend who cried with him.

When their house burnt to the ground,

They gave thanks for the thoughtfulness of friends and strangers.

Dear God, when the marriage ends, the illness disables, the bombs fall, the racists write words on my wall, may I think of you as my friend, holding my hand and passing me encouragement with your handkerchief.

Let me turn away from bitterness, and embrace love and hope.

Remind me that your arms are there for me. For me!

Thank you.

imageWhen we remember to give thanks for his presence in our lives in whatever situation we are in, we will be like David our wailing will be turned to dancing and we will be clothed with joy.

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Posted by: Jo | March 1, 2013

Servants Of The Lord

“The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”” (Matthew 25:40)

Speak Lord Your Servant Is ListeningIn every church community I have ever been part of, I have always been aware of a group of what I call, quiet servants of the Lord. Some readily spring to mind like one man who belonged to the same church I attended. He had just retired and as he now had more spare time on his hands, looked around for activities to fill his day. He would have been excused if he had taken up a hobby, played more golf, but he chose, quietly I might add, to see who he could help in the congregation. He began by offering during the summer to cut the grass for two widows who were struggling to keep their gardens tidy. He discovered that several elderly people still living alone in their homes, needed somebody to do simple tasks, difficult now for them, like changing light bulbs, fixing the broken fence. He became the man to call for several elderly parishioners. Most of the congregation were unaware of this faithful servant who quietly went about helping those who needed him. He didn’t win any awards, but I felt he fulfilled Jesus’ words

You did it for me!

Another lady in another church showed this same selfless servant hood in her life. She was a trained hairdresser and after volunteering to help in the kitchen at a mission for the poor, saw that she could use her training to help restore the dignity of some of the poor and homeless by offering to cut their hair, so she set aside one day a week to cut hair free for anyone who needed it. Very fewExemplify Servant Leadership people in her church knew she did this and she didn’t win any awards either, but I always thought she deserved a medal when I thought of the state of some of those heads she had to deal with. She also would have heard the King say

You did it for me!

Many others flood into my mind; one lady faithfully buying groceries for a shut in every week; a manicurist visiting an old age home and bringing a little joy to old ladies by painting their finger nails; ladies knitting socks for the poor. None of these faithful ones were seeking praise for their efforts, but were following Jesus command to all of us

Love one another as I have loved you

The common thread I saw running through all the activities of these quite servants was their genuine love for Jesus. If you had asked any of them what ministry were they involved in at their church, they would have been totally surprised, not seeing what they were doing as anything but a response to the love of their Lord. Unfortunately “volunteering” has become the buzz word for our society. My grandchildren tell me that any decent resume now must include significant evidence of some sort of “volunteering”. So the actual motivation for helping others is lost in a desire to impress others as to how compassionate you are. It becomes a means to an end. Not so in the hearts of true loving servants of the Lord.

Guard My HeartAs a young Christian I learnt many valuable lessons from observing these loving servants. When I remarked to the lady who was painting old ladies’ fingernails, how impressed I was with her, she surprised me with her answer. She told me that those visits were the highlight of her week. She told me of the fascinating stories she heard from these seniors. She told me she always left with a glow in her being. She did not need my praise. She was receiving it from the Lord.

I witnessed this verse coming to life in people’s lives.

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord….” (Psalm 118:26)

I found that the truly joyful in the congregation were often those involved in loving servitude for others. The Lord doesn’t need us to list our volunteering efforts for him to see, he already knows. When our motivation is our love for him, he is right there with us and we will also hear the whisper

Thank you for doing it for me!

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Posted by: Jo | February 22, 2013

Unconditional Love

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Romans 8:35)

imageThe promise of unconditional love from the Heavenly Father, is the hardest concept for me to understand. I can understand being loved when I am involved in some wonderful ministry or when I am helping others or when I am being particularly noble etc.(I even quite like myself during those rare moments), but it is in those other moments that I struggle to grasp how deep and wide is the Father’s love. Those days when my thoughts are ugly, my words mean spirited and I am mainly thinking more of myself than those around me. Then I not only don’t like myself, I wonder how God could possibly put up with me. It is during that time that I get a tiny glimpse of what it means by God’s grace. Brennan Manning has a beautiful phrase that seems to encompass those moments; “Grace stands waiting” or another powerful description from Max Lucado. “Being in the grip of grace” What a relief it is to feel his grace always waiting to flood over us. What a relief to know that we are held so tightly in his grip that his grace will never be separated from us. What a relief to know that we do not have to earn by great effort his grace, it is freely given. Eugene Peterson in The Message, sums it up this way;

“Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God gift from start to finish. We don’t play the major role If we did we would probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing. No we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and the saving.”

God’s grace is described in all different ways in scripture, but in each description there is a touch of grandeur, and extravagance of phrase. These are the words I found; grace is lavished upon us; grace is poured out as an overflowing of goodness; grace is abundant no stinting; grace is like a garland of flowers to adorn one’s neck; grace is glorious; it comes like a refreshing shower on a hot day; grace is the touch of the Father’s hand to sooth a troubled brow; grace never leaves a believer’s side.

When we grasp the quality of God’s grace and only then can we believe that God’s love for us is most definitely unconditional.

“I am the thorn in Your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss
But You love me anyway”

– You Love Me Any Way, Sidewalk Prophets

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Posted by: Jo | February 15, 2013

Unashamed To Be Called His

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jews and then the Gentiles.” (Romans 1:16)

imageSome time ago I heard a story, used by a speaker in a service I was attending, of a young man who after listening to a powerful sermon in which the pastor entreated his listeners to allow Jesus to be part of their lives, begged Jesus to come and be his constant companion. When he returned to his car at the end of the church service, Jesus was sitting in the passenger seat. The young man was delighted and they spent a lovely afternoon talking together as real friends. The next morning he was surprised to find Jesus waiting to go to work with him. All day he was surprised to feel Jesus’ presence with him and he was careful not only of his language, but of how he spoke and acted with his fellow employees. At the end of the day it was the custom for the young man to go to the bar with some friends, again he was surprised to see Jesus in the passenger seat waiting to go with him. “Surely, Jesus you do not want to come to the bar with me”? Jesus replied, “Didn’t you ask me to be part of your life? Is this what you do after work, then I will go with you”. So wherever the young man went that week, Jesus went with him. This scenario was repeated every day for the next week and the young man began to look at his life in quite a different way when he knew Jesus was right beside him. Eventually the young man felt ashamed to think that on Sunday he had begged Jesus to be his constant companion, and yet here he was choosing when and where he would let Jesus into his life. He began to notice how comforting it was to have him constantly with him and how different and rewarding his life had become.

Last week at the end of his sermon our pastor read to us all, a powerful letter entitled “Fellowship of the Unashamed”. It was written by an African pastor and the words spoke volumes in answer to Jesus’ words in Mark 8:38. I have included the first two paragraphs.

I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed.

The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line.

The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His.

I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure

I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning

smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking

cheap living and dwarfed goals.

The first sweet fictional story and this powerful letter hold wonderful moral lessons for us all and we have to look at our own lives to check if we are a bit embarrassed to have Jesus right beside us in some areas of our lives.image

Being unashamed of the gospel brings great rewards for us and when we allow Jesus to be part of every area of our lives we enter into what becomes a divine union. We immediately acquire an understanding, loving companion who loves us without question. We gain a defender, someone to contend for us when troubles assail us. We are led by a guide who knows the safe paths to traverse. We have a great source of wisdom to turn to when perplexing problems arise. Our life becomes meaningful and rewarding. No entry fee charged, we are all invited to join, Fellowship of the Unashamed and to receive all the benefits of membership.

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Posted by: Jo | February 8, 2013

Banishing the Grudging Heart

“Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord Your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” (Deuteronomy 15:10)

Camel through the eye of a needleHave you noticed how many words in the English language mean exactly how they sound? Some of them I call the ugly words. “Sludge” is one of them. When one says it a mental picture of gooey, messy not readily identifiable mixture, lying in the bottom of a receptacle, springs to mind. The word “slime” is not far behind. We hate to investigate that peculiar semi liquid that somehow is now residing in the back of the cupboard under the sink. “Slither” slips off the tongue with a shiver and suits that peculiar movement that only a snake can make with perfection, but what tops the list of my ugly words is the word “grudge”. Even to say the word our lips seem to form a mean spirited down turn of the mouth. When we talk about people “carrying a grudge”, the picture quickly springs to mind of somebody with a big ugly burden bowed down with the weight of what they are carrying and yet holding on fiercely.

We use another form of the word to describe how actions can be marred by attitude. For example, “He grudgingly agreed we were right.”

Recently I was discussing with friends how when we were small, praise was used sparingly with children so they would not become spoilt. One of our friends made us all laugh with her story of her brother-in-law who ended every meal by saying, “That wasn’t bad.” His poor wife could turn herself inside out to prepare a lovely meal, but the praise always came in the same grudging way.

Scripture entreats us not to have a grudging heart. (Deuteronomy 15:10)

How do we take that ugly word out of our everyday living? Perhaps we could start with how we praise people. Are we stingy (there is another of those ugly words) with how we acknowledge the successes of others? The work place is often rife with peopleTaking Money holding grudges about how others have been more successful in their jobs. Getting rid of grudging hearts would certainly improve the atmosphere of the office. Are we gracious with our praise of our spouses, our children, our friends? It has been documented that children who are rarely praised don’t do well in school or later in life. Do we remember to praise our pastors, our teachers, and our police force? Praise given ungrudgingly smoothes many a situation.

We can be grudging in other areas of our lives. Do we give our time grudgingly? Are we so preoccupied with ourselves that we are unwilling to devote time to play with our kids, visit a shut-in, check on a neighbor? Do we resent the time given to worshipping on a Sunday morning and do so grudgingly? How much time do we give to just listening to someone? Not impatiently waiting for the person to finish, but genuinely caring about what is being said.

The big one probably is our money. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 it says,

“….God loves a cheerful giver”

Certainly we give when we are embarrassed into it, but how do we learn to give with that cheerful heart, to give with a grateful heart, to give abundantly without grudging a penny of it. EncourageJesus told us we would always have the poor with us and it is to our shame that that is true today. Do we find ourselves begrudging what is given to programs for the poor?

When we remove all the grudging attitudes from our lives God is able to fill our hearts with his joy and we will be blessed by him and echo these words.

“I was filled with delight day after day. Rejoicing always in his presence. Rejoicing in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind” (Proverbs 8:30 – 31)

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Posted by: Jo | February 1, 2013

My Favorite Day

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

Favorite Day PigletWhen I was a little girl I was given a book of poems, by A.A. Milne. Of course he is far better known for his charming characters in the Winnie-The-Pooh series, now made famous by Disney, but he also wrote delightful poems that were such fun to read out aloud. The King’s Breakfast was one of my favorites and it was so satisfying to chant along with the King, the Queen and the Dairymaid and of course we all agreed with the king, “we do like a little butter with our bread.” Of all those off beat toys of Christopher Robin’s who come to life in Milne’s stories, I must admit I love Winnie the Pooh the best and was delighted to find in my mail box on the computer a sweet little cartoon featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. Winnie is asking Piglet, “What day is it?” and Piglet replies, “Today” and Winnie replies with a huge smile, “My favorite day!”

After I smiled I suddenly realized what incredible truths lay in that answer. Too often we are consumed with either what has happened in the past or what may happen in the future, to enjoy the day. Too often we allow the day to be filled with apprehension or with such busyness we hardly notice it passing. Too often we forget to give thanks that we have been granted this new day by the Heavenly Father and forget to rejoice with him during it. What a wonderful lesson we could learn from that sweet Teddy Bear if we could greet each morning with his wonderful exclamation, “My favorite day!”

Worry of any sort from finances/ health/ work related/ relationships can effectively spoil our day. Jesus has a long section in his Sermon on the Mount, devoted to banishing worry from our lives. (Matthew 6:28– 34) He ends this section with encouraging us to take one day at a time.Favorite Day Burden Free

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)

When Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray he was very specific that our needs for “the day” would be met if we asked our Father for them.

“Give us each day our daily bread.” (Luke 11:3)

This does not just mean, food, it means whatever we need to help us cope for what lies ahead. We may need a big dose of confidence. We may need to be filled with energy for a tiring task. We may need to be fortified with courage to deal with a difficult situation. We may need to be nourished by his love to survive a time of grief.

This also means we need to come to our Heavenly Father daily so he can provide for the day that lies ahead. All we need is his assurance that he will supply whatever is needed so we can then confidently say, “My favorite day is about to start.” We get this confidence by turning to his word.

Favorite Day Good MorningOne of the verses that I go back to time and time again is found in Lamentations and reminds us to seek him daily for an outpouring of love to start the day.

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22 – 23)

Winnie the Pooh was quite wise for a Bear with no brain!

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Posted in Comfort, Lamentations, Luke, Matthew, Psalms | Tags: , , , , , ,

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