Trick or Treat?
The Bible says:
On the basis of that, I tell people "God's gifts have no 'gotcha!'" But doesn't it seem as if He does, sometimes?
Today is my birthday and I am blessed:
With long, relatively healthy life...alone.
In a beautiful house...that's empty.
And a car...with nowhere to go.
And friends and family...I don't see.
When I pray for a woman in my life, I get someone who's "not quite right." As if being given a stone instead of bread, a serpent instead of a fish, a scorpion instead of an egg. (Luke 11:11-13)
But there's the key word: SEEMS. For I'm alone NOW but have spent most of the day with friends at work in a job that is a blessing. And I am in an empty house that was full a few months ago with friends and dogs (including a poop-filled pug)! And the car that sits in my garage allows me to drive to work every day and to church, shopping and meeting friends on weekends. And as I sit here my friends and family seem close because the cards and gifts they sent for my birthday are all around me to remind me that others DO care about me, even if it doesn't SEEM like it sometimes. I don't have a woman in my life now but I have been in love, have known what it's like to be with a woman, to laugh and cry and make love with them and just sit alone with them and be still.
I have had every blessing I could imagine (even though I've never been a father I helped raise a brood of nieces and nephews as if I had been one of their parents).
There's a saying that goes "Perception is reality" But that is not true. GOD does not give "gotchas" with His good gifts. Our perception that He does is only a misperception and a misunderstanding. And, as in any relationship, we must trust Him even when we don't fully understand His actions or motives or lack of action on our behalf.
I Corinthians 13 says "Love hopes all things, believes all things; Love never fails." In any relationship, it's essential that you believe and expect the best of the Other. That is no less true when we consider GOD and have a relationship with Him. Just because we don't understand what He is doing, or not doing, based on our perceptions doesn't mean He is acting any less loving than when we feel as if we understand Him totally and He seems to be making everything go our way. There is no "gotcha" in the gifts of GOD. There is no trick in His treats. He only monitors how much of the sweetness of life we can taste at any time even when our sweet tooth demands what He ordains we may not have, for our good, for reasons we do not understand.
The blessing of the LORD makes rich and He gives no sorrow with it. - Proverbs 10:22
On the basis of that, I tell people "God's gifts have no 'gotcha!'" But doesn't it seem as if He does, sometimes?
Today is my birthday and I am blessed:
With long, relatively healthy life...alone.
In a beautiful house...that's empty.
And a car...with nowhere to go.
And friends and family...I don't see.
When I pray for a woman in my life, I get someone who's "not quite right." As if being given a stone instead of bread, a serpent instead of a fish, a scorpion instead of an egg. (Luke 11:11-13)
But there's the key word: SEEMS. For I'm alone NOW but have spent most of the day with friends at work in a job that is a blessing. And I am in an empty house that was full a few months ago with friends and dogs (including a poop-filled pug)! And the car that sits in my garage allows me to drive to work every day and to church, shopping and meeting friends on weekends. And as I sit here my friends and family seem close because the cards and gifts they sent for my birthday are all around me to remind me that others DO care about me, even if it doesn't SEEM like it sometimes. I don't have a woman in my life now but I have been in love, have known what it's like to be with a woman, to laugh and cry and make love with them and just sit alone with them and be still.
I have had every blessing I could imagine (even though I've never been a father I helped raise a brood of nieces and nephews as if I had been one of their parents).
There's a saying that goes "Perception is reality" But that is not true. GOD does not give "gotchas" with His good gifts. Our perception that He does is only a misperception and a misunderstanding. And, as in any relationship, we must trust Him even when we don't fully understand His actions or motives or lack of action on our behalf.
I Corinthians 13 says "Love hopes all things, believes all things; Love never fails." In any relationship, it's essential that you believe and expect the best of the Other. That is no less true when we consider GOD and have a relationship with Him. Just because we don't understand what He is doing, or not doing, based on our perceptions doesn't mean He is acting any less loving than when we feel as if we understand Him totally and He seems to be making everything go our way. There is no "gotcha" in the gifts of GOD. There is no trick in His treats. He only monitors how much of the sweetness of life we can taste at any time even when our sweet tooth demands what He ordains we may not have, for our good, for reasons we do not understand.
posted by Ariel Lion of God | 9:36 PM
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