The Mighty Mesquite

            When I lived in West Texas, I hated Mesquite trees. For one thing, I was allergic to them. For another, I thought they were ugly!

            Having said that, James Dobson helped me appreciate one quality about them. He compared them to a tree in the rain forest.

            A typical tree in the rain forest has an easy life. Water is always available. Consequently, the tree does not have to grow roots very deep. Unfortunately for the tree, a mild storm can blow it over to its death.

            On the other hand, a West Texas Mesquite tree is lodged in that region’s dry and unwelcoming land. The adversity leads the Mesquite to drive its roots at least thirty feet down into the soil on a water finding mission. As a result, the most terrible winds of West Texas cannot force the tree to topple. It is anchored to the ground. Adverse conditions actually energize the tree to create a strong survival mechanism.

            Perhaps that is one reason God allows us to face adversity. Mull over what our brother James wrote, “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way (James 1:2-4 THE MESSAGE.)

            Nothing like hard times to help us grow deeply rooted in Jesus.

  

Source: James Dobson, When God Doesn’t Make Sense

“I’m Moving Again.”

            Too many believe that great people reached their heights without trials, tribulations, failures, and heartaches. They did not.

            The story is told of a young man, who was a struggling newspaper writer in San Francisco. A lady saw him one day with a cigar box under his arm looking in a shop window. “Mr. Clemens, I always see you with a cigar box under your arm. I'm afraid you are smoking too much,” she told him.

            “It isn't that,” he replied. “I'm moving again.”

            In spite of those dire circumstances, Samuel Clemens would go on to write great novels under a pen name—Mark Twain.

            If you are God's man or God’s woman and are presently facing difficult times, it does not necessarily mean that God is displeased with you. Nor does it mean that you are to remain in difficult times.

            I invite you to faithfully look to God, allow this time to deepen your intimacy with him, enjoy his presence, and wait expectantly for what he will do next in your life. 

            If you do, I can promise your life will never be boring!

The Window

            Here is a parable you may have read. It is from CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL:

            There were once two men, both seriously ill, in the same small room of a great hospital. Quite a small room, it had one window looking out on the world. One of the men, as part of his treatment, was allowed to sit up in bed for an hour in the afternoon (something to do with draining the fluid from his lungs). His bed was next to the window.            

            But the other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. Every afternoon when the man next to the window was propped up for his hour, he would pass the time by describing what he could see outside.

            The window apparently overlooked a park where there was a lake. There were ducks and swans in the lake, and children came to throw them bread and sail model boats. Young lovers walked hand in hand beneath the trees, and there were flowers and stretches of grass, games of softball. And at the back, behind the fringe of trees, was a fine view of the city skyline.

            The man on his back would listen to the other man describe all of this, enjoying every minute. He heard how a child nearly fell into the lake, and how beautiful the girls were in their summer dresses. His friend’s descriptions eventually made him feel he could almost see what was happening outside.

            Then one fine afternoon, the thought struck him: Why should the man next to the window have all the pleasure of seeing what was going on? Why shouldn’t he get the chance?

            He felt ashamed, but the more he tried not to think like that, the worse he wanted a change. He’d do anything! One night as he stared at the ceiling, the other man suddenly woke up, coughing and choking, his hands groping for the button that would bring the nurse running. But the man watched without moving - even when the sound of breathing stopped.

            In the morning, the nurse found the other man dead, and quietly took his body away. As soon as it seemed decent, the man asked if he could be switched to the bed next to the window. So they moved him, tucked him in, and made him quite comfortable.            

            The minute they left, he propped himself up on one elbow, painfully and laboriously, and looked out the window. It faced a blank wall.

            Two men, two attitudes, two perspectives on life.

Story source: A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul Copyright 1995 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen

What is Happiness?

            Several years ago, a 15-year-old girl wrote to the advice columnist, Abigail Van Buren:

Dear Abby,

            Happiness is knowing that your parents won't kill you if come home late. Happiness is having your own bedroom. Happiness is getting the telephone call you've been praying for. Happiness is getting good grades and making your parents proud of you. Happiness is being a member of a popular circle. Happiness is having parents who don't fight. Happiness is knowing that you're as well dressed as anybody. Happiness is something I don't have.

            (signed)

            15 and unhappy.

            A few weeks later, “Dear Abby” published a response from a 13-year-old girl:

Dear Abby,

            Happiness is being able to walk. Happiness is being able to talk. Happiness is being to see. Unhappiness is reading a letter from a 15-year-old girl who can do all three things and still says that she is unhappy.

            I can see, I can hear, but I can't walk.

            (signed)

            13 and happy

The Farmer and the Mule

Kip Walker once submitted the following parable to a Bible study club. I received it in an email:

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule 'braying' - or - whatever mules do when they fall into wells.

After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back...HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow.

"Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!

You're right! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL!

What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him...all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

THAT'S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity...THE ADVERSITIES THAT COME ALONG TO BURY US USUALLY HAVE WITHIN THEM THE POTENTIAL TO BENEFIT AND BLESS US!

 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4) NIV