Being Content

     There was a time in America when people didn't have television or radio.  There was a time when children played outside riding their bicycles or played with their radio flyers, climbed tree's or played hide& go seek, jump rope or hopscotch. There was a time when kids went to camp, like I did, to learn about nature and learn to ride a horse, or learn how to row a canoe, or just being outside and enjoying being a kid!  There was a time when having a dishwasher or washing machine was a luxury.  Minus the dryer. When people didn't have all the "necessary luxuries" of today.  Yet, looking back, in my opinion, were the most content with what they had?  Why is that?
    Growing up, we used to wash our clothes in a tub and use a scrub board to clean the dirt off.  That until we got a washing machine with a crank that had the two rollers where you would you put your clothes in between and it flattened out your clothes to take the excess water out, and then you hung them out to dry in a clothes line.  None of this fancy stuff we have today where you just put your clothes in a tub, push a button and the work is done for you. I remember having to hang my clothes out to dry in the sun on a clothes line.  Or how about the iron?  There was no plug in iron's back in that time.We had to put a cast iron on the stove, wait for it to heat and then iron our clothes.  none of this plug in the iron, push a button and you have automatic heat.  we actually had to do the work!  I remember  growing my own vegetables, and being responsible for maintenance.  I remember  having  a lemonade stand and learning about the meaning of work, finance and Entrepreneurship. I even remember learning how to cut people's grass.  Now I'm not knocking innovation,  but there is something to be said about the work that is done out of sweat and time that makes it meaningful.  A sense of accomplishment for your thought & effort.
     We live in a microwave world where everything is 'instant'.  From washing clothes, dishes, or even warming our food.  It's all 'instant'. There is no thought or effort into it.  Just push the button and go! What happens when you take a society and you implement that 'instant' mentality? You have a society that is lazy,  inconsiderate and unappreciative, because after all, you don't have time for anything complicated.  If something doesn't work,  you can go buy another.  If a marriage doesn't work out, you can go out and find someone else.  When you can have anything at the push of a button, what is that teaching a society?  The simpler the innovation, the less content  we seem to become.
     In introspect, I can see how my grown up years have made me appreciate the things I have today. From growing my own vegetables, to washing my clothes in a tub, to just being a kid and playing hide & go seek. It took time and effort to see it produce. That is all we had. When we as a society do not take the time to be content with what we have,  those things lose their value, and cheapen the things we say we want/need or perhaps even love. We fail  to realize the blessings we do have.
     I can't do much with my 13 year old computer.  But when I save my money and buy a new one, I know I will appreciate the sacrifice I put in, in saving for one, and in turn, will take care of it so it will last me just as long.   When we let innovation control our lives instead of  enriching it, we lose our contentment.  

I Timothy 6:6
Phillipians 4:12
Hebrews 13:5

Good News
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Bring It!

  
  On December 1st, I started my new exercise routine. After having been fit and active for a long time, I left myself get overweight and inactive.  Year after year, I would go through the rut of telling myself that this was the year.  Something has to change.  But, just like the year before, I do nothing about it.  It's just a wish, but without putting the effort.
     This month I joined  a Beachbody Challenge.  I hope you will join me in being successful.  If you want to join me in the challenge, just send me a note, I'll show you how. 
     This year will be different.  This year I will make a change.  This IS the year.  It's time to BRING IT!
  

Night of the World

     It's 3:16am and I'm looking out the window, waiting to see if  my cat is wanting to comeback  in.  It's a kitten I took in off the streets a couple of months ago when one day from work she was crying on my front porch.   Little did I know that she would be wandering out of site, in the coldest night of the year, to do who knows what, without a care in the world about what I might be going through waiting for her return.  I started to get sad, because just like my cat, my dog Sampson would do the same when he was young when I lived in an apartment.  He would get loose and go carousing all over the neighborhood in the middle of the night.  And there I'd be , worrying all night until he returned.  For the life of me I can't understand why they would run off and leave a perfectly warm house with a bed, food, water, and plenty of love, to go chase after shadows in the night.   But just as I was thinking that, another thought came very clear.  "Isn't this what God say's about us?"   Chasing a life of empty activities and trying to find happiness from within them, when He has spiritually already prepared a house with all the necessities of life and infinite love?
    God gives up the one precious person in His life so that we can live full filled lives, and all we have to do is accept that gift of love.  Think about that for a moment.  God, being the God He is, willingly gives up His own Son, as a ransom, to pay for the penalty of sin for all of mankind,  in order that we may live full filled and worthwhile lives.  Yet, we as mankind, carouse out into the "night of the world", chasing about shadows with  no meaning, not giving a thought that someone that loves us is waiting for us to come back home.
     Just as daylight broke, I step outside to see if I spot her, and there she is with a group of other cats, huddled under my neighbor's truck.   She has two options.  She can either stay with her new found friends in the cold, or she can come home where there's a warm bed waiting for her. Which does she choose?  Which do You choose?  A life with no meaning?  Or God who gives meaning to all?  The cat is not crazy.  It knows where there is love.  It knows that as soon it comes inside the house, it will be cuddled and loved, fed and given water and a warm bed to lie down.  God is waiting for your answer.  He's standing at the door, waiting for you to come  home.  You have two options.  which one will it be?

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