July 17, 2016
SUMMER SUNDAY…
ENJOY the LITTLE THINGS
May we find joy in, appreciate, take care of, and be faithful with little things in life.
There is absolutely no doubt that our faithful God wants to be known by His people; He wants His character and His identity to be known; He wants to have an intimate, personal, forever relationship, daily fellowship, with each one of us. And, we must answer the question and teach our children to answer the question…“How will we respond to God…How will we respond to Jesus?”
ENJOY the LITTLE THINGS
“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large things…” Luke 16:10
I have learned through the years, the lessons which Bill and I worked so diligently to teach our children, were lessons we first had to learn ourselves if we were to lead by example and to model for them…
I have learned that the teacher must remain the student…Such is life!
God places people in our lives, people who go in front of us, come behind us…and walk with us. We all have experienced God’s perfect timing in relationships…friendships which serve to encourage and to equip us. Bill and I have been incredibly blessed by family and by friends whom, I believe, have been appointed by God to come into our lives and to do life with us…Recently, I have been counting these blessings in our lives…I have been remembering…
ENJOY…
Every parent wants desperately for their children to live life responsibly and productively, (we certainly wanted that for our children)… while enjoying their lives…And, what exactly does that mean? It wasn’t ‘fun’ that we were concerned about, because they had plenty of child fun…and we know that life is not always fun, in fact, what an understatement…especially in light of recent days.
The word ‘enjoy’ means to take delight in, to appreciate, to experience with joy… Yes, we wanted them to delight in the life God had given to them…to appreciate with all their hearts the life God had given to them…to experience life with JOY…in other words…to live in joy…
Jesus spent His life and His ministry telling desperate, hurting, hopeless people what they needed to know…teaching them where to find abundant life, joy-filled life, eternal life…Showing them the best Way to live… He spent His life, teaching us HIS TRUTH…THE TRUTH.
ENJOY the LITTLE THINGS
I remember the birthday gift our son, Adam, received, which he had waited and waited for, his very own BB gun. The gift came with specific limitations and instructions, authored by his dad, who worked diligently with Adam teaching the guidelines of being a safe and responsible fisherman, hunter, and now, the proud BB gun owner.
Bill was out of town, and we were doing the evening routine of passing time before bed-time. Adam asked for permission to shoot his gun at the targets we had provided for him, and I called Christie into the house, and let him go outside to shoot before the sun went down…
I never took into account the possibility of a lone dove landing on the target and of Adam, aiming at the dove sitting on the target, him pulling the trigger, firing and hitting the bird…and the possibility of the bird tumbling to the ground…completely still.
Adam came running up to the back porch…shouting and carrying on…Then, the three of us, marched out to the back fence…and, yes, he had hit the bird…and yes, it was a dove.
THE LITTLE THINGS
It is funny how moments such as these hang on the precipice of decision-making…My mind raced as I tried to determine what to do…the sky was beginning to fade into dusk…we were home alone without Bill…and I weighed my options. Certainly I would not just throw the bird over the back fence into the creek below…We could give the bird a proper burial and quickly dig a hole and have a little ceremony, and still be safe and secure and in bed on time…I searched for the solution…
Bill and I had been intent on teaching our children the value of life…all life…We took in stray animals…too many sometimes…and, Yes, the guys hunted and fished…but Adam was learning that the animals were to be used to provide food for us and for other people in our lives…No, we certainly do not waste life. Technically Adam had not broken any of our rules…he had aimed at the target…he had used his safety precautions…but he just happened to be a really good shot…as the dove settled onto the target…
“Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your Heavenly Father feeds them…” Matthew 6:26
And then, I understood that this moment was bigger than the life of the small bird…This was a teaching opportunity. If the value of life mattered at all…then it had to matter now…God had given us this beautiful world, creation, and He wanted us to delight in His gifts, to experience them and to appreciate them…to live in joy…to ENJOY them and to be responsible with them.
ENJOY the LITTLE THINGS
God places people in our lives, people who go in front of us, come behind us…and who walk with us.
I suddenly knew exactly what to do. I called my friend, mother of three, who I had met through VBS, when we co-led the fourth grade class at our local church. Her husband was a physician, and an avid outdoorsman and, together, they appreciated the beauty and the wonder of life…and they taught their children…
I drove the twenty minutes to their house and our wonderful friends, Heidi and Sonny, met us and invited us into the garage where a table was already set up to begin the cleaning process of the one lone dove. Heidi provided snacks for the kiddos… and Dr. Sonny began the ‘lesson’ for my children…and for his own as well. What would have normally taken him minutes to do…stretched into about an hour process…as he took great care in teaching Adam and their son how to pluck the feathers…and how to clean the small bird. The guys finished their meticulous job…and Adam proudly displayed the dove breast in a plastic bag…grinning ear-to-ear, totally prepared for me to cook it the next day, which I did!
For many years, our children enjoyed fun day trips with this family to peach orchards, picnics, park visits, and back-yard birthday parties, scavenger hunts…treasure hunts…small things…simple things, beautiful things, fun things, LITTLE THINGS…displaced baby birds and bunnies…kittens…and backyard gardens…the wonders of creation…the wonders of friendship. And, I am so thankful!
ENJOYING THE LITTLE THINGS
What I have realized, is that Jesus wants us to know about the things in life which really matter…to be responsible with life, on all levels…the value of life…the value of Truth…the promise of joy when we know HIM…So that we can enjoy life by living in joy…HIS JOY!
He loved us enough to tell us, SO WE WOULD KNOW…then, He gave us the freedom to make the choice…as we answer the question…“How will I respond to God…How will I respond to Jesus?”
I believe that Jesus uses little things to explain to us “the BEST WAY” to live…because attention to little things, bring into our lives big things, great things, and the most wonderful, Life-giving truth of God’s love for each one of us.
I am so thankful for the gift of friendship and family which God gives us along the way…God places people in our lives, people who go in front of us, who come behind us…and who walk with us. Recently, I have been counting these blessings in our lives…I have been remembering…
The blessings of summer days…of friends, and family…and of our Jesus!
ENJOY the LITTLE THINGS…Tell Your Precious Ones, so they will know
“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large things…” Luke 16:10
Abundant Joy,
