July 25, 2012
Adjustment
In an article on poverty a young woman described going from a lavish rich
lifestyle to being poor because of the economy. In contrasting then and now she
said, “I grew up going to Hawaii every
summer. Now I’m here, applying for assistance because it’s hard to make ends
meet. It’s very hard to adjust.” My compassion meter was registering low so
my first reaction was, Hawaii every summer. Really? I’ve never been to Hawaii. However,
once I put on my spiritual hat I was reminded that the believer can more easily
adjust to the current economy by praying, “Give
us today our daily bread.” (Matt 6:11 NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for He gives to His beloved sleep.” (Psalms 127:2) Anxiety is like a child’s scribbles in a book, static on a phone line, or the plastic tray in a box of chocolates. It only takes up space and distracts the mind from what's important such that good thinking happens less. It isn’t that rising early and going to bed late are never necessary. It isn’t that some of today’s troubles are not making plans for tomorrow’s needs. It is that anxiety pays attention to the call of the passions while competence pays attention to the call of the situation. Hard toil is what God bestowed upon Adam, and prosperity is the reward of wise toil.
-----A piece of my heart bleeds for this lady. As you’ve noted, Hawaii is not a common experience to many of us. But neither are freezers, refrigerators, and cupboards full of food, hot water at the twist of a wrist, and light at the flick of a finger. We poor souls who’ve never been to Hawaii still live like kings and queens compared to most in the world. And my compassion for her is not out of godliness. It is out of fear that if I don’t have it the Lord might boot me out of my palace to go crawling down some rabbit hole while eating grasshoppers and stink-bugs.
----God arranges the lives of people. He makes people of little lives and people of big lives, because all lives to Him are each and together most important. So He must effect for them eternal love and well being, which means deceit and destruction must pass out of His planned existence. For that reason every particular of every life in this world of ours gets His nod, or it simply and certainly won‘t be. The rich are rich, the poor are poor; some are righteous; some are wicked; they are all people the same. They laugh; they cry; they love; they hate; but most importantly, they are living spirits encountering temporal conditions having little to do with their eternal destinies. Encountering anxieties, that is. Thank God His eternal condition kept for us requires not a scrap of today’s property or prosperity other than some intangible love for what is right and true and good, love in that way of the heart, you might say, which Christ showed.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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