Our Personal Worlds

 Sometimes our conversations to ourselves and with God are like these expressions:

“Weeds!   I hate weeds. They grow in the yard and in the garden and make it so hard to have beautiful plants and shrubs around the house.”

“Cleaning!   Dirt is everywhere.  As soon as I get done with one area of the house, it seems like I have to go back and start over again. I’m tired of cleaning.”

"Allergies!  Spring and Fall are the worse times of the year because I cough and sneeze way too much."

 “Rain!   I know Lord that I prayed for rain for the crops, but the grass just keeps growing and your rain will not let me mow.  Now I have limbs to pick up and trees to saw into firewood.”

“Kids! They won’t pick up their clothes. They argue with me all the time. I’ll be glad when they are grown.”

"Restaurants!  I hate the food there and will tell everyone about how bad the food and service are."

Then we hear a soft voice of the Lord call back to us.

“If you have weeds, it is because you have been blessed with a yard and garden to grow my beautiful plants. Be happy that you have the health to pull those weeds.

 If you are cleaning, then you are blessed with a home for comfort and protection.  Be happy that you can see the dust. 

If you have allergies and coughing then you are breathing the air I provide each day.  I may have pollen in the air but without that there are so many medicines that you would never have to stay well or the great honey that my bees produce.  Also in coughing, you know your lungs are working properly.

You know that without rain, there would be no grass to grow. Don’t you trust that I am in control for the showers to bless you.

Be careful what you ask for in your children. They WILL be grown too fast and today need your love and tolerance to show them a Christ follower’s example."

(Personal note)   Having matured, I constantly encourage parents to enjoy their children and love them for the creation God has entrusted to a parent, step-parent, or foster parent.  I watch at a distance our grandchildren growing and pray fro them and their parents to enjoy their time together because it will be gone way too fast.  My heart goes out to those who have lost children because their joy was stopped by Satan himself.

(Back to The Lord)

"My child, why do you use the word 'hate' so freely?  You were given taste buds for choices in food, but why do you seem so ungrateful for the richness that I have given you in choices for food and bounty.   So many throughout the world have not been blessed like you."

So when we get caught up in our personal worlds, we often turn our eyes away from the giver of everything and focus on ourselves. We complain about so many things that we forget to thank the Lord for everything.

Today we should take stock of our complaints and change those complaints into thanksgiving for the blessings we may not quickly see each day.

Our personal worlds can become more pleasant through the appreciation of weeds, cleaning, allergies, rain, our children, what and where we eat, or other areas of our lives.

Today ask for thanks for His mercies and forgiveness for our complaints. 

Psalms 136:1 Thank God! He deserves your thanks. His love never quits.