When both my children were in Preschool, their teacher, Miss Shawnie had a lunchtime rule- Good food first. What that meant was eat the healthy things first, like the sandwich, fruits, or other snacks with nutritional substance. I can only imagine as a preschool teacher that seeing a lunch box full of sugary foods was a bit frightening. After all, we all know what sugar does to those with little to no self control. This rule came to mind today as I was mentally planning springtime activities and schedules that will soon erupt into full swing here in the next few weeks. I pictured God as my teacher, looking at my calender as my lunch box, reminding me to eat the good food first, keeping Him at the center of my schedule and heart. It's tempting to let the commercialism of Easter skew our thoughts and focus, getting easily wrapped up in the rush to buy the the biggest basket, wear the best outfit, and eat as though there was no tomorrow. God asks us to eat our "good food first" with Him- start and end our day with Him, read His words and take time out and listen to Him. It's amazing how clear our day becomes when we keep Him at the center of it. Just imagine what our lenten season could look and feel like, if in every detail we put Him first!
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Once upon a tizzle, there was a man living in a cabin in the woods who, one night, woke up to see a bright light shining in the cabin.
"Tinkerbell?" queried the sleepy-eyed cabin man. "No, dork. It’s God." said the light. "There is something I want you to do. Get up."
The man inquired what it was, and God responded, "There is a big boulder in front of your cabin. I want you to go out there every day and push, and push, and push against that boulder."
"Are you serious?" the man asked. "That sounds like a terrible idea. And besides, there wasn’t any boulder out there yesterday. Why did you put that there? Am I being punked? Ashton!"
But the man took God’s instructions seriously. Day after day for many, many weeks he pushed against that boulder. But he couldn’t budge it an inch. After awhile an idea came into his head, which he understood to be the voice of the devil. "Look, you don’t have to bother with this. You have done your best. You won’t succeed at this. Accept that you have failed. It is useless. Then just take it easy and do the least amount of work you can."
Before the man would take that advice, however, he decided to pray. He prayed and prayed and prayed. "God, I have done what You asked me. I have been very faithful. Every day for hours I have been pushing against that rock, but I have not budged it an inch. I have failed. Thank you for taking my self esteem down a notch. I needed that."
Then God, with great compassion, answered. "Son, you are not a failure. I asked you to push against that rock, and you were obedient. I never asked you to move it. I asked you to push against it.
"Because you have pushed faithfully and diligently against that rock every day, notice how strong your arms have become. It’s like ‘Whoa, welcome to the GUN show!’ Your back is brown and sinewy, your legs are massive; you are in such better shape now than you were. You have learned a lot because you have been faithful and obedient."
Then God said to the man, "You have trusted me. Now I will move the rock."
That is the way God does things.
So, when life is getting you down, PUSH. When you’re having trouble on your job and things are not working out, well,…QUIT. But then start PUSHING in your OWN business. When the bills are high and the money is low, PUSH. When people aren’t responding to you in ways you hope and want, PUSH. When people don’t understand you, PUSH.
There is more happening than you realize.
Make it a great new year. And may all your boulders be moved in light of your previous efforts and God’s grace combined.
Regards,
DB
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