It's A Beautiful Day In The Neigborhood!

We have all heard the admonition that we should stop and smell the roses. It's one we should all pay heed to given the uncertainties of life. As I unlocked the main gate at our facility this morning at 5 a.m., the sky was bursting with brilliance from the light of the moon and stars. What a wonderful way to start the day by looking up and seeing the handiwork of our Great God! It reminds me of that song written by David found in Psalm 19 where he says the heavens declare the glory of God. He goes on in this great song to speak about various elements within God's created universe that essentially proclaim God's existence. I love the part where David said this: "There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard." In other words God is speaking through His creation all over the world and no one can misunderstand the message. Question is, have we stopped to listen and respond?

I know I got off to a bad start yesterday with the computer issues I encountered early, however, putting it in context, it really is not that big of deal. Yesterday my wife had a little mishap with the garage door and it scraped her car a little. She was very upset about it. I told her when it's all said and done it's nothing more than a chunk of metal and it can be buffed out and made to look good again. I also told her that in the grand scheme of things I doubted seriously she would hear about this issue when she stands at the judgment seat of Christ. I told her that is unless she lost her testimony in her thoughts and words. She laughed and said she didn't, (so I will take her word for it), and it's good to realize that stuff here in this life is just that, it's stuff.

My youngest son and his wife are working through one of those spiritually based financial programs that seeks to help you operate your life without being controlled by the abundance of things you want or have. Most of us typically have stuff all around us that really has little use or purpose in our lives. I heard a local pastor talking about how shameful it is for many of us to have multiple rented storage facilities filled up with our unused stuff. He went on to say this surely is not what God intended when He blessed us with financial means and resources.

These are tough lessons and many of us are still trying to learn them. I applaud my children's efforts to learn this now as they seek to revalue all the things in their life. There's some that are so very temporary, yet we often spend so much of our time on them, while neglecting the most precious of all, things that will last forever, like the souls of our children, our testimony, and our work and labor on behalf of our Savior. When we begin to see our purpose through the lens of truth, it is then, with His help, we can change our vision, our perspective, and our understanding. When we do, then we look around and stop to smell the roses, and to thank and give praise to God because it is a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Amen. .....more later.