Shade Tree Wisdom 1/11/11

The walking was pleasant. The highlight was when I just was starting, here came a jogger, wearing only running shorts. I said, “Cold?” He replied, “I’m starting to warm up”. So we parted amicably. No, I did not spend my walking time trying to analyze his choice.

It seems we have too much of that today, trying to “lay the blame” or “find the reason behind the action”. The columnist George Will reported on the murder of President McKinley and ended the report by writing that the killer “was executed, not explained”.

“Now,” he writes, “we have explainers”.

A friend once said to me, “Life is not made by the dreams you dream, but by the choices you make.” He is right. St. Paul spoke of this when he said, “Approve the things that are excellent”. Philippians l,l0.

Life isn’t easy. Often it becomes downright upsetting, dreary, dragging from task to task endlessly, till we become weary. Our first energy and enthusiasm wear down, and there seems no end in sight.

The Lord knows this and so He has given us armor for this very battle. In Ephesians chapter 6, 10-18 this armor is described in detail. The reason we need it is because the battle is against an enemy stronger than we. Paul says “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places.” V.12.

The battle is urgent, it is ongoing, it is always to the finish, and it is desperately urgent that we remain upright. So. Says St. Paul “take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always in the Spirit”. V.17.18a.

The jogger I mentioned meeting would get used to the temperature, his body adjusted, and he was really comfortable with his choice.

That sort of explains life, doesn’t it? We get used to things, and our first insight becomes dim when it meets different values. So it is really wise to use the Word, which is “sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to diving asunder of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. Heb 4,12.

We need always to sharpen our understanding. The world tends to mislead you with its easy phrase of “get used to it”. No, you ought not “:get used to it” for this weakens your faith. Just think of your mother in the Spring of the year cleaning house. Every corner was cleaned and polished, curtains washed, rugs beaten, floors waxed, and it as all necessary because life using that house brought in dirt, mud, dust, which either got cleaned out, or became, finally, something we got used to, and it lessened our feeling of self.

So, let’s not always ‘explain’, lets get it right by using His WORD.

GPD 1/11/11