"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 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. Well, not necessarily
so! O, you certainly can do that if you want, but you do have
alternatives, options and choices. Hey gang, this is a New
Year with new opportunities.
I read a
story recently about a couple who had reached the 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 and 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 others 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, but the air seemed to be much
lighter. 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 who seeks a life filled with the joy
of the Lord. He said, "Some seeds fell 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) Bad news, that parable works in the
negative also.
So, good
buddies, there will be opportunities to plant good seeds into your marriage,
the lives of your family and all of those you meet this day. It may be a
simple smile and word of encouragement to the check-out person at the super
market, volunteering to work in the nursery at church this Sunday, or even
emptying the dish washer and putting the dishes away. But most important,
make sure you are planting positive God-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
Grandma Peanut!
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