Star-fish

     We've had company the past few days and the woman told a story of an acquaintance who was quite wealthy. Yet, the acquaintance continued to work into her later years as she wanted to leave millions of dollars for her children. Her children, though, are adults and well established in their own careers. They have told their mother to quit working as they didn't need her money.      This scripture, Ecclesiastes 4:8, reminded me of this story: There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. "For whom am I toiling," he asked, "and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?" This too is meaningless-- a miserable business!      At what point is enough money, resources, antiques, jewelry, cars, etc., enough? How long do we toil for things that no one else even wants or needs? What is the purpose of pursuing wealth for the sake of more wealth? I...

     A recent financial situation had my husband and I a bit unraveled. We kept crunching numbers and then started doing a frenzy of research on solutions to resolve our problem. Finally, I was worn out. My husband was worried and all that we had done, had done nothing to fix our issue, but it had caused us strife.      We began to pray, releasing the situation to God and letting go of it. I quit seeking answers and began seeking the Lord. I quit even praying for a solution, but rather gave the whole thing and my part in it up to God. I rested, trusted, and relaxed knowing only God knew what needed to be done. (Of course, this was only after I got to the point of saying to my husband, "I am so done with this!")      A phone call came a few days later that was an obvious answer to prayer. The answer was not a solution either my husband or I had even ventured to think of...only God knew about it. It was a complete "God thing" and we could tak...

      As I read the Bible this morning, a phrase in 2 Chronicles 12:14 struck me, "He [King Rehoboam, son of King Solomon] did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord." My first thought was,  how sad, since his grandfather was King David! Then it became more personal, Do I know how to set my heart on seeking the Lord?       My husband and I walked our neighborhood this morning and I asked him, "What does it mean to you to set your heart on seeking the Lord?" After a pause, he noted, "I don't really know." I replied, "I guess I better look into this further." Of course, I went to Google and searched "seeking the Lord with all my heart." This article on the website, www.desiringgod.org really simplified this idea. The following quote from  https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-does-it-mean-to-seek-the-lord  written by John Piper was insightful: This setting of the mind is the opposite of mental coasting. It i...

     As I listened to the news last night, a man from a recycling center was lamenting the avalanche of cardboard they have received this year due to all the shipping boxes people have gotten rid of since Christmas. Due to a change in the way many people are shopping on-line these days, which seems like an efficient thing to do, we now have too much cardboard waste. Change brings change.       It reminded me of several situations discussed in my college ecology course where animals or plants were introduced into an area to "help" with a problem, only to cause a bigger problem. One in scenario in particular was the mongoose introduced to the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii.gov site noted the following about the mongoose: The mongooses found in Hawai’i are native to India and were originally introduced to Hawai’i Island in 1883 by the sugar industry to control rats in sugarcane fields on Maui, Moloka’i and O’ahu. This attempt was misguided, because while ...

     Last night, my husband and I watched the movie, Heaven is for Real, about a little boy who claimed to have been taken to heaven during a serious illness and surgery. He talked about singing angels and when he asked them to sing a secular song, not particularly godly in nature, they laughed politely, but didn't sing it. Apparently, they are called to glorify God in all that they do, so singing ungodly lyrics is not in their repertoire.      Reverend Billy Graham in his book, Angels: God's Secret Agents , told of angels protecting missionaries. Here is an excerpt from that book:  The Reverend John G. Paton, pioneer missionary in the New Hebrides Islands, told a thrilling story involving the protective care of angels. Hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night, intent on burning the Paton's out and killing them. John Paton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When day...