Shade Tree Wisdom 5/4/11

A bit on the cool side this morning. My friendly dog joined me for a bit and I noticed he was wearing his fur coat, so my jacket did not seem out of place. He left after a short time and went back to his warm place.

Yesterday I had to get an item from the Home Depot. I rarely go to these places. They are huge. So I asked the clerk when I got there where I would find my item. She called an older worker and asked him, and he told me, ‘Down this aisle and it’s at the far end”. I said, “Why is it that whenever I go to these places it’s always at the far end?”

He grinned and said, “It’s the law.”

I said, “What?”

“The law of the canny retailer”, he said. ”They put such items at the far end so you get a chance to walk past much other stuff to buy. Like milk and bread at the grocery store.”

I know that law, as you do too. BUT I also have a law, it’s “The law of the prudent shopper.”

“What’s that”, you ask. Why, never go to any store without a list. And never buy stuff not on that list. That’s just common sense. And it is the secret of successful living.

Have a plan and use it faithfully. Use the plan to guide and direct you, help you make decisions in life, help find your way though the problems that rise in your way at work and at living.

That, by he way, is God’s way. When the children of Israel were about to get to their promised land after 40 years of wilderness travel, Moses gave them words from God to live by. We read in Exodus 24,3, “And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice and said, 'All the words that the Lord has said we will do'.” In verse 7 they repeated the promise and added, “and be obedient”.

“I am a stranger in the earth, Oh, how I need a map”, and the Lord supplies that map. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” Psalm 119,105, (See Deuteronomy 4,2.Prov.30,6. Rev. 22,19.) That is the secret, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” 2 Tim. 1,12. May God bless the keeper of the list.

GPD 5/4/11