Shade Tree Wisdom 5/16/08

Just a light jacket was almost too much this morning. I met the girl with her new puppy again, but this time she had it firmly on a leash. Said to me, “It needs to be exercised, but I want to control that.” Good thinking.

The world is really a beautiful place. Friends send me pictures of nature, water falls, hidden lakes, towering trees, shady grassy areas, landscapes with grazing cattle. The list can go on, I sit here and look at trees outside my window, lofty loblolly pines, ash and oak and all kinds of growing things. My neighbor planted some bamboo. The clump kind, not the other. That runs and would soon be all over the neighborhood unless severely watched and kept in check.

But the world also has in it things that annoy. One new problem for this area are raspberry ants, so called after an exterminator who first discovered them. They have a tendency to nest in and damage electrical equipment, pool pumps, well pumps, gate motors, pipeline valves. They don’t bite, but are very hard to control because they have many queens. One positive, they tend to replace fire ants. Of course, man has learned a little bit how to control that pest.

So much for that.

Now there is the other problem. Sin, that seems to cause all kinds of havoc. The more man invents the more ways man finds to misuse that invention. Early on we thought the telephone was such a great thing, saved driving over to tell aunt Elsie the news of whatever. But then there was the town gossip who spent time to gather ammunition by listening in on the party line.

Today we have a Missouri women sued because she used the internet to bully a neighbor girl. Despondent, she hanged herself. That thing will now be the source of legal wrangles to find a solution.

And cell phone companies are trying to find ways to curb spam calls that you don’t want but have to pay for.

Enough.

That is just why we have this word from or Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

For here there is always rest for the weary, the disturbed, the worried, and the ones who carry burdens beyond heir strength. Jesus, the Christ, is their Savior and heir lord. He cares. He brought the Word of salvation. So the worries of the world need not burden, for we can indeed “Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you”. That word of St. Peter rings true for you too.

He does, you know, carry out this promise. Do find your rest there.

GPD 5/16/08