“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so what the man of God
may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
“This joy I have the world did not give it to
me.” Sing with me……
Hey Gang:
Christmas is over, time to take down the trimmings, finish off the
turkey from Christmas dinner and get back into the daily grind. Does your house look as bare as mine? Perhaps a better question: Do you feel a bareness
in your heart for the bangles of beads of this world which fill our joy meters
for only a very short season? Or, did
you lean back and say, “Thank You Lord for all the neat blessings that you sent
my way this Christmas Season”.
I have heard sermons on how God’s human creation
tends to cheat the God who breathed life into them. In Malachi we read, “Will a man rob God? Yet you are
robbing Me! But you say, “How have
we robbed You? “In tithes and offerings” (Ml. 3:8-9).
In
a blog before Christmas I wrote of the success the evil one has had in filling
our date planners so full we operate in about the middle or lower half of that
list of things we consider the most important.
A time study specialist, always began his time studies with this question:
“If you were told you will die in thirty days what would your top ten
priorities be?”
He
discovered that the top three answers were: get right with God, make sure I was
right with my family, and make sure I was right with my neighbor. But when he asked the question, “Where are these
things in your daily life?” Nearly all admitted they were at the bottom of
their list.
He
also determined most agreed that when they were right with God, family and
friends, they were at the peak of the joy, contentment and happiness
meter. When he asked the question, “Is
there more joy in receiving gifts or giving gifts?” His finding was amazing. Nearly all said, “To
give is much more satisfying than to receive.”
When asked why, again the responses were amazing: “Because I like to see
people happy.” One last finding in the study
was the response to- “Why, when you know it makes you feel good to give, you do
not give more?” The number one answer
was- “I just don’t think of it!”
At
Eagle Village Christmas Program Pastor Eric talked of a very special gift that
he received as a child. At the end of his description of this very special gift
he asked the audience what was the very best gift you ever received. My grandson was sitting beside me and his
response was, ”A barn built by my grandfather.” This made his grandfather feel
good inside for all the hours he spent in ‘Gramps
Workshop’ building wooden toys that have been shared with many.
You
see in my 83 years I have learned a wonderful lesson: the greatest of all gifts do not come from
Macy’s or Walmart but things that produce memories in the heart of the receivers. With each wooden toy that has gone out from ‘Gramps Workshop’ includes a piece of his
heart.
Well,
it is time for me to wrap this up and get back down to ‘Gramps Workshop’. There are
a couple project that need to have the finishing touches applied. Projects that look like wood but rather are
prayers and memories from Gramps.
Blessings,
Gramps
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