April 14, 2008

• MONDAY DEVOTIONS

    I am down from the mountain and still marinating in all I have learned.  Once I get my notes and my thoughts together, I will share some of the things, the Lord has shown me. 

  The weather was great, the food always good when you don't have to prepare it and clean up after.  I did not even gain a pound even though I ate goodies galore.  It must have been the hill I had to climb to get to the lodge where we met.  I did take a few pictures with my cell.  I don't know if they turned out yet.  I will share them later. 

  I met wonderful women of all ages.  The Lord really blessed me with my own room where I could come and go as I pleased in complete silence.  I needed that silence to listen to Him.  I feel refreshed spiritually. That is such a nice place to be.  I do want to share a devotion I read earlier this morning....

  April 14, 2008

  Mirage

  Sharon Jaynes

   

  Today’s Truth

  “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21 NIV emphasis added).

   

  Friend to Friend

  Flutter. Flutter. Bang! Flutter. Flutter. Bang! Momma and Papa Bluebird danced in front of our sunroom windows, trying frantically to break through the glass barrier. Time and time again, they banged their feathered heads against the panes. What were they pursuing? Where were they trying to go? What had caught their eye? Why were they so persistent? I wanted desperately to help them solve their dilemma, but I couldn’t figure out what the dilemma was.

   

  After three days of this featherbrained, frenzied activity, I decided to put myself in their position, get a bird’s eye view, and examine the situation from their perspective. I stepped out onto the patio, stood in front of the windows, and there it was. In the reflection of the glass was mirrored their birdhouse, some thirty feet behind me.

   

  Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird’s lovely cedar shingled home with decorative finial, sat on a tall pole nestled under the protective branches of an old oak tree. Their bed and breakfast came equipped with an adjoining spa - a concrete birdbath surrounded by fragrant rose bushes, bursting with red blossoms and a carpet of white annuals. But instead of being satisfied with their high rise estate, they were banging their heads against the pane, striving for a mirage, a mere reflection.

   

  Amazingly, a few times they turned around, soared to their home, and crawled through its opening for a reprieve. However, before long, they were dive bombing into the glass again, trying to gain entrance into an illusion of something better.

   

  This made me think of my own life and the many times I go flutter, flutter, bang- flutter, flutter, bang, striving for something that is just a cheap imitation of God’s perfect provision for my life. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans that I have for you, to prosper you, and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.”

   

  Yet I argue, “Yeah, I know that God. I know you’ve provided me with this home and this job and with these particular gifts. But, well, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or anything, but I reaaaaly would be happy if you’d give me a house like Mary’s over there. And you know Beth, well I reaaaaly would be happy if you made me a Bible teacher like she is. And you know Teresa? If I could just be as sweet as she is, I’d be satisfied. Then there’s Laura. Now God, she has the prettiest blond silky hair. Could I just have hair like hers? Don’t get me wrong, Lord. I do appreciate what you given me, but if I could just have…………….”

   

  Well, you get the picture.

   

  Flutter. Flutter. Bang! Flutter. Flutter. Bang!

   

  The banging birds may have knocked themselves silly, but they also knocked some sense into my hard head. God has provided me with everything I need. As David, the psalmist wrote, The Lord is my Shepherd, I don’t need anything! I can flutter about looking at the mirage of happiness in other people’s windows, or I can nestle down in contentment and not get my feathers ruffled trying to get more. The way to keep from fluttering around from one mirage of happiness to the other is to stay close to home and be satisfied with my own nest, feathers, and chicks. I’ve learned that I’m most content when I’m at home in the Father’s will, I’m nestled in His protective Branches, perched on the pole of His standard, nurtured by the Living water of His fountain, cleansed in the laver of the Holy Spirit, and beautified by the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon. And as Dorothy of Kansas once said, “There’s no place like home.”

   

  Let’s Pray

  Dear Heavenly Father, forgive me when I complain about what I don’t have and when I am not thankful for what I do have. Help me not to be like the people mentioned in Romans chapter one who “did not give thanks.” I do thank you for all the blessings You have poured out in my life. I love you so much.

  In Jesus’ Name,

  Amen

   

  Now it’s Your Turn

  How thankful are you today for the blessings and provisions of God?

   

  Consider writing Him a Thank You note. Let me get you started.

   

  Dear God, I want to thank You for…….

   

   

   

  • 12:16 pm
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