Weekend Words

 From Be Still and Know...

"Don't hide your light!  Let it shine for all; let your good deeds glow for all to see, so they will praise your heavenly Father." (Matthew 5:16 LB)

We are living in a dark world today, one darkened by pain, sorrow, loneliness, and heartache.  Many people are searching for a way out of their darkness, and looking for just a little ray of light.

An artist once drew a picture of a winter scene.  The trees were heavily laden with snow.  To one side of the picture was a dark, bleak-looking house.  The picture gave a feeling of depression.

Suddenly the artist, with a quick stroke of yellow crayon, put a light in the window of the house.  The effect was magical.  Immediately the scene was transformed into one of cheer.

This is what happens when Christ is invited into a life.  He turns on His light and a life is transformed.

When His light is turned on within it shines out to others.  We are to be "rays" of light, shining His light on the path of those about us.  "YOU are the world's light... Don't hide your light" (Matthew 5:14-16 LB).

Paul wrote, "You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of people who are crooked and stubborn.  Shine out among them like beacon lights, holding out to them the Word of Life" (Philippians 2:15-16 LB)

Rudyard Kipling and his wife purchased a farmhouse on a mountain slope in Vermont.  One day they hiked down the mountain back of their house and up the next mountain.  They came to a tiny house where a woman lived by herself.  "Be you the windows across the valley?" she asked.  When they said, "Yes," she told them how much comfort the lights of their home where to her.

Suddenly she said, almost fearfully, "Be you going to stay and keep your lights burning, or be you not?"

After that day the Kiplings always kept the light on the back of their house burning for their neighbour across the valley.

Can people say of us, "Be you the window shining?  Be you going to keep your light shining; or be you not?"

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From A Prairie Devotional (inspired by The Little House on the Prairie TV series)...

A Mind-Set

"I'm a farmer and I love it, and I'm a father and I love it.  And best of all, I'm married to Caroline Ingalls and I love her."  - Charles Ingalls

Contentment is being thankful for our lives and what we have. It's easier said than done; contentment doesn't come naturally.  When Charles and Caroline attend a class reunion, they see their old friends are successful but discontented.  Reflecting on his simple life, Charles is struck by how satisfied he is.  Contentment does not depend on circumstances, but on our mind-set.

Charles Ingalls reminds me of my stepdad.  He was a simple man who worked hard and loved his four girls as well as his wife.  A mail-man for more than thirty years, my dad sorted letters like seeds, drove his mail truck as if it were a plow, and delivered packages as big as sacks of grain.  While rain didn't wipe out his annual salary, it made quite the soggy mess.  Being content with a blue-collar job took more than just a good attitude.  I think my step-dad's faith played a role.  I saw him every dark morning at the kitchen table reading his Bible.  He had a deep love for God.

The secret of contentment is to be grounded in Christ.  When our hearts and minds are focused on Him, we can't help but be grateful for the lives we've been given.  Charles didn't look at his life and see what was lacking.  He saw everything as a beautiful gift from God.  Gratitude recognizes how much we have compared to what we deserve.  We deserve nothing but have been given everything we need to pursue a life of contentment.

Godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. - 1 Timothy 6:6-7

I seem to have a bit of a 'cabin theme' going this week :))