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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Hot and Cold (04/09/09)
Yes, here I am thinking about the rain that has fallen for days now. Instead of being thankful that the days of begging God, calling rain and thunder from the North, South, East, and West are over for now, I am bemoaning the inconvenience of not being able to do things outside. My goodness, on top of that, it is cold and damp…
It is a funny thing, the mind. How easily we forget one unpleasant circumstance when another arrives in its place. The very prayers that I thought were not being answered are falling all around me screaming, “Answer, answer!” in the form of wonderful drops of rain.
How quickly I forgot the hot, stifling, dusty days of summer when I stood a huge rock in our pond that should have been almost under water. I stood on that rock which was sitting on dry ground and called forth rain from all four corners of the earth. The pond was dry. The fish had all gone to fish heaven. They had become breakfast to hungry predators as the water level disintegrated to nothing...
Yes, I stood like the prophets of old on that rock with my loud authoritative voice commanding the clouds to fill and spill over! How I chuckle to myself now when I hear my commanding voice turn into a complaining, unthankful pout.
Here I sit, watching the answer to those prayers fall all around me, yet I had forgotten those prayers. Can I laugh at myself? You bet. Laughter brings joy to the heart. Seeing oneself as a person of short memory loss when things are unpleasant can bring a sense of humor into our lives. Yes, it is raining. Yes, it has been raining for almost a week now.
I speak to my mind telling it to recall the weeks of dry hot summer when all things were crying out for rain. I search my mind for pictures of every living plant wilting in the scorching sun, unable to be revived with the modest means of watering I could provide.
When, Oh Lord, will I realize that Your time schedule is so different from mine? When will I realize that I only see part of what is going on in that marvelous mind of Yours? Can I laugh at myself and regain the wonder of knowing You as You reveal Yourself to me?
I am starving for the Tree of Life, because I continue to grasp after food from the tree of knowledge. Let me, oh Lord, this day come to You, the source of all food, to banquet at Your table, be content in whatever state I find myself, and rejoice that I know You at all!
Today, I pull up a chair at Your table. You sit across from me. I chuckle, I laugh. You chuckle, You laugh. We laugh together.
It just doesn’t get any better than this…
Amen.
Question to ponder: What am I complaining about that actually is an answer to prayer, seems to be inconvenient, or not answered in the way or time in which I envisioned?
Verse for the day: Ephesians 5:20
Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Jan Ackerson
04/16/09
Living in Michigan, I can definitely relate to this.

An extra space between paragraphs would be great, please?

I like the format with the question at the end, to give your readers something to think about.