Learning the Hard Way

For some reason, most of us learn the hard way.  We tend not to ask for advice or to listen to those more experienced voices.  We think that we know what's best for our own situation, and then, we proceed to make a mess of that very situation. 

Once we are stuck and struggling to get free, than we just might begin to seek wisdom.  The scriptures are full of it, ready for our tear-filled eyes.  As we listen and learn, God creates a path through the current wilderness.  If we refuse to listen, we continue to wander in circles.

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"It is good for me that I have been in trouble, that I may learn thy statutes." [Psalm 119:71]

Daily Manna

Every single morning, the Israelites had to go out and gather manna; "angels' food" it was called.  If they tried to save some overnight to use the next day, it was no longer edible.  Yet, every morning, there was a fresh supply ready...ready for those who took the time to gather it.

Every single morning, there is spiritual food waiting for us.  It is placed there by God; all we have to do is gather it.  Taking even just 5-10 minutes each morning to collect our spiritual manna can be enough to sustain us throughout the day.  If we rely on yesterday's supply, it will be stale and we'll have hungry spirits. 

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Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat. [Psalm 78:25]

King David's Parents

"From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family." (I Sam. 18:2)  I'm sure that David's parents were happy that he was being used of God in the king's court.  I'm also certain that they deeply grieved the absence of their youngest child.

Years later, David made sure his parents were provided for.  "'Let my father and my mother, I pray you, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.' And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelled with him all the while that David was in the hold."    (I Samuel 22:3,4)

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 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. [Jeremiah 29:11]

Prayer of St. Francis

The following prayer is a favorite of mine and is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, whom the new pope is emulating.  Here is a link to what Wikipedia says about it. 
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_of_Saint_Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

 

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Charity suffereth long...is kind... is not puffed up...seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil...  [I Corinthians 13:4,5]

God's Solution

Sometimes there's a situation with no easy solution.  It's messy.  We justify our imperfect responses to an imperfect situation.  We try to fix our problem, either by running away or by forcing change of some kind.

What happens if we stay put and give it to God, with much prayer?  "The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me." (Psalm 1820)  This means doing the right thing. The right thing is not easy and it defies our human nature, which wants to justify our wrong responses of anger, revenge, hate, depair, self-pity, confoundedness and selfishness.

God's solution can take a long time to arrive, but it's worth the wait. In the meantime, do the right thing and pray.

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"He brought me forth to a place of liberty." [Psalm 18:19]

Like Elijah

Elijah, the prophet.  He raised a boy from the dead, through prayer.  He called down fire from heaven, through prayer.  He made it rain after three years of drought, through prayer. 

We say, "That's just Elijah.  That doesn't apply to me.  My prayers don't work like that."  An interesting thing about Elijah - he didn't give up after just one prayer or after seeing no results.  He kept at it.

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Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. [James 5:17]

Thorns

Those thorns we spoke about yesterday?  Christ died for those thorns.  He wore a painful "crown of thorns," perhaps symbolic of his "taking on" all our wrong deeds and imperfections.

We love Him and others because He first loved us, and while we were still sinners, He died for us!  We choose to love our thorny companion because Christ first loved us, thorns and all. 

Remember how, over time and sacrifice, we learn to focus on the rose and not the thorns?  It becomes easier because the thorns begin to lose their sharpness through the mutual love and sacrifice of the relationship.  Some of the thorns even fall off, but there still remains a mark, a memory of what it took for that to happen.  The mark is a beauty mark of age and time. 

TV~ When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns..., Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!"   [John 19:5]