Shade Tree Wisdom 1/26/11

We received l.74 inches of rain overnight and through the day Monday, so we are thankful for the much needed moisture. Not gushing rain, just gently and steadily falling drops.

The years bring a certain calm when I find my world in all kinds of turmoil with hatred and sultry language the standard for debate and argument. What debate, when each never waits for the floor, but simply starts to shout, sounding like a bunch of kids arguing and the winner is the one who shouts the loudest. [It reminds me of the speaker who had this note on the margin of his manuscript, “argument weak here, shout like . . .”.]

And another secret for such calm I just discovered to my delight only this morning. When you need to call and make some appointment or something, and the called answers with, “Your call is important to us, will you please hold. All our representatives are busy at the moment, will you please hold.” Well, we have all spent our share of time holding and fuming. So this morning I blurted, “I have so few years left, too few to spend the time sitting here holding a phone. I’m sorry.” and hung up.

What a relief to do that. And guess what? Quickly the phone rang again and there was a live person ready to talk to me.

Well, that’s all just to bring me to what I did want to talk about today. Psalm 37 speaks about that. Luther says of this Psalm, “It is a psalm of comfort that teaches and exhorts us to have patience in the world, and warns us especially against envy. For, “it is vexing and painful to the weak in faith when things go well with the godless and the opposite happens to those who fear God. So take your heart to God and do not allow yourself to be vexed.” And St. Paul says this in his love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13.v.4.5. “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

Envy, the begrudging another for what they have. An envy that causes jealousy, that gnaws at our being, that chews away at any joy we might experience. That really destroys any well-being and often causes rifts among family members, tears apart friendships, and destroys the fellowship.

Instead, let’s hear the Psalm.
“Fret not thyself because of evil doers,
Be not envious of wrongdoers.1.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
And He will give you the desires of your heart. 4.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust in Him, and He will act. 5."

GPD 1/26/11