Where is your hope?

Hope

 

 

Somewhere in time, this week, I have been thinking of hope.  People hope for many things.  Single people hope to be married.  Childless couples hope for children.  People hope for a good parking space at the grocery store – or maybe that’s just me when its really hot outside.

Life without hope is not worth living. 

This week I have been working on one of my books.  I am self-publishing.  Right now I’m hoping this program accepts the PDF file of my book.  It keeps rejecting my first page. 

I also hope the people who read the book enjoy it.  I hope people will want to read more of what I’ve written.

If this PDF file never uploads, I will not lose hope.  I may have to find another way to upload a file, but I won’t lose hope because my hope is in the Lord.

Psalm 25:5 New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long.

Aaron Shust - My Hope Is In You (Official Music Video) from centricitymusic on GodTube.

This Little Light

of Mine

 

 

Somewhere in time, well always, I like light.  I don’t mind if every room in the house has its lights on.  Well I don’t mind until the electric bill comes in. Its good I live in a sunny place, its light and bright most days.

Growing up there was a song we sang in Sunday school, this little light of mine. 

This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine

Matthew 5:16New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

I haven’t felt much like a light this week.  I have been working so much overtime, that I’m starting to get really tired and a lot grouchy. On my way out someone asked me if I had looked at a project and I told them no and I wouldn’t, my plate was full.  It was then that I realized my little light is buried under that mound of paperwork.

God likes to gently remind me when I’m not as nice as I should be.  Coming home, I realized in this dark world, I may be the only light people see.  If I bury it, or burn it out even, what good will it do?

I have made a resolution to let my little light shine.  Scratch that, I want my little light to be so strong it becomes a bonfire.  Maybe that bonfire can burn up this mound of paperwork – just a thought.

The Cracked Pot

A Story Remembered

 

 

Somewhere in time, when I was a younger person, I heard a parable.  I don’t know who to give the credit for the story to and this is not a word for word adaptation, but I still like the essence of the story.  This week I needed a reminder that God can use imperfect vessels.  That’s when this story came to my mind. Of course, this is a work of fiction, but I think the point is good.

In a small village, a woman had two pots that she used to bring water from the river to the house.  One pot was strong, the other was cracked.  Every day, she would take her pots to the river and fill them up with water.  When she arrived back home, the one pot was full, the other half empty. It had drizzled and dripped its water all the way from the river to the house.

The cracked pot felt like a failure.  It didn’t help that the other pot felt proud.  Each day its leaks seemed to get worse.  Just when it felt it was time to give up and just fall apart, the woman said to a friend.  Look at the flowers growing along the path.  I so enjoy their beauty and their fragrance as I walk each day.  These flowers grow and bloom because the crack in my pot waters them as I walk.

Hearing this, the cracked pot cheered up.  It did have a purpose.  Its purpose was to bring beauty to the woman’s daily walk, by watering the flowers along the way.

Jeremiah 29:11King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Sometimes, even when I feel like I’m a “cracked pot”.  God still has a purpose and a plan for me. 

 

July 4th

Freedom

 

 

Somewhere in time, today, we celebrated July 4^th as America’s Independence Day.  It caused me to think of freedom.  Freedom that our founding fathers fought to earn for us and freedom our soldiers currently sacrifice everything for.  Freedom is something we should respect, prize and do everything to maintain.

This week I have been feeling a little frustrated with my country.  I think we are letting our freedom’s be taken away, little by little.  When court battles rage as privately owned business’s fight to maintain freedom follow their conscience, a chink in the armor of freedom appears. When you can’t speak your mind because others disagree with you, the armor develops a hole and the wearer becomes vulnerable.  I believe we should respect each other’s opinion, but we don’t have to agree, that is part of what makes America a great country. 

As I was thinking this, I remembered that even with our flaws, we still have it very good in America.  There are places in this world right now where admitting to being a Christian is a death sentence.  In some places, if you admit to being a Christian, it immediately reduces you to a life of poverty with no hope of rising above.  Speaking your faith brings persecution, suffering and often time’s death.  By comparison, my minor complaints are nothing.

To be honest, freedom doesn’t come from the country I live in, it comes from God.  This is why people can suffer for their faith and still have joy.  Their freedom is found in their inmost being and radiates out from there.

John 8:32 (NIV) “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

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

Freedom, true freedom, is a matter of the heart.  You can be free while in prison if you choose to be.  You can live in a grass hut in the middle of a desert and experience freedom. The spirit of God is everywhere.  Where God’s spirit is, there is freedom.

For all of us who can practice our faith without persecution, let’s remember to pray for those who can’t.  Let us also be thankful for the freedoms we do enjoy.  There may come a time we are not as fortunate as now.

 

God Bless the USA - Lee Greenwood from haitimissionary on GodTube.