"No
temptation has overtaken you but such as common to man; and God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure
it. (1 Cor. 10:13).
Hey Gang: The festivities are
over! The tree and tinsel has been taken down and the house has a kind-of-bare
look about it. Time to take the things that don't fit back and battle the
return lines. Time to get back in the same routines we kind-of put on hold for
a few days. In other words, it is time to recycle and get back in the
same ruts we were in before. Right? Well, not necessarily so!
O, you certainly can do that if you want, but you do not have to. This is
a New Year with new opportunities.
I read a story recently about a
couple that had reached that point where the dark clouds had blocked out the
light and they could not see any escape to the problems in their marriage.
The husband, in preliminary conversation with the divorce lawyer, had laid out
a scenario of woe that was filled with about every negative his wife had
demonstrated in their years of marriage.
At the conclusion of his description
of what had to be a terrible, unsolvable marriage, the divorce lawyer leaned
back and said, ‘I will prepare the divorce papers- but before I
have you sign them and proceed with the divorce, I want to challenge you to do
something that I ask all to do who come
here seeking escapes from their marriage.
I want you to put all of those
complaints in a little box and put them in the back of the closet and every
time you feel that she has done something right I want you to compliment
her. I also want you to go to the florist each week and get flowers and
just place a note thanking her for the things she does that we men take for
granted.
Several weeks passed and no call
from the husband and then one day he showed up at the lawyer’s office.
The lawyer took out the completed forms and laid them out for the husband to
read and sign; the husband very calmly took the forms and folded them neatly
and put them in his pocket. He had learned a very good lesson in the
weeks of ‘giving instead of complaining’. "You reap in relationships what
you sow".
A New Year, yes, but will it be a
spitting image of last year? All it takes to make it like last year is to
use the same seed planting program you used last year. If you sowed seeds
by the road side, or in very shallow soil where it could not take root, or in
the midst of one of the many thorn patches, you will probably not enjoy the
crop. Perhaps it is time to take heed
and follow the example of the husband listed above.
If interested, check out the
rest of the story presented by Jesus in his message of the seed planter. Jesus
gives us a better course of action that is available to each and every soul
that seeks a life filled with the joy of the Lord. He said "Some
seeds feel on good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and
some thirty, He who has ears, let him hear". (Matt. 13:8-9)
Soooo, good buddies, there
will be opportunities to plant good seeds into the lives of family and all of
those you meet this day. It may be a simple word to the check out person,
a smile or volunteering to work in the nursery at church this
Sunday. But most important, make sure you are planting
positive seeds in the good earth in your marriage, family and home.
Blessings to you this New Year and
keep in mind that God loves you and so do we
Gramps and Gma
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