Shade Tree Wisdom 4/30/14

          One study I read recently said it is possible to change. Experience bears that out. Because we have always known if we really pay attention, we do change habits. It takes some effort, but after some days the effort gives us a new, and hopefully, better habit.

          When I was a boy, one of my classmates had the nasty nail-biting habit. He knew it was nasty, and asked us to help him. So we did, yelling and pointing whenever we caught him doing it. I don’t know what it was, being ridiculed, made an object lesson, shame, or just being made aware of the unconscious habit, but he learned not to bite his nails.

          So we can make changes.

          In matters of faith, however, we cannot change without help. Maybe just because many bring the wrong message when they are discussing matters of faith. They speak of Jesus dying on the cross, and then say, “Now all you need to do is.. .”

When the real message is, “Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world.”  And when He cried “It is finished”, all the work was done. There is nothing left for us to do.

The Hymn “Abide with Me” has this truth in verse 3

“I need Thy presence every passing hour,

What but Thy grace can foil the Tempter’s power,

Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?

Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, Abide with me.”

When the burdens of life seem to weigh me down, when the sunshine fades and rain clouds darken the sky, when tornadoes flatten my town and hope seems far away, when the problems of daily living seem overwhelming, when everyone seems to be calling for my ‘expert’ attention, it is good and helpful to remember what St. Peter wrote, (2 P 1,19)

“We have a more sure word of prophecy;

whereunto you do to take heed,

 as unto a light that shines in a dark place,

until the day dawn,

and the daystar

arise in your hearts”.

So, my friends, let us learn to say with firm conviction, “I KNOW that My Redeemer lives”.

GPD 4/30/14