Yesterday afternoon we met some friends for lunch. Looking up through the large plate glass windows to the east, I could see Hope crossing the parking lot. Hope America is our three-year-old. Currently she is the baby of the family. I jumped from the chair and ran to the door. She was crossing the parking lot to get to her older sisters who were leaving for a little shopping. I called to her as I ran out the door.
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Lunch Hour in Utica
If my life were a movie I would fast-forward though Junior High. My Junior High years were painful. Like every Junior High kid I was dealing with awakening sexuality, and struggling with who I was and how I would make my mark in life. But I was sure I was alone with these strange feelings.
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Heidi’s Swing
Today I took Hope for a walk in the Arboretum near out house. We watched the water run over rocks beneath one of the little stone footbridges. We saw butterflies and listened to new birdsongs. We saw trees in the bud and in the blossom. (The Dogwoods opened this weekend. That calls for celebration). I held Hope’s soft chubby hand and we looked at tiny violets and dandelions. Hope thinks dandelions are beautiful flowers and gathered a bouquet for mom. She doesn’t know that most people consider them a nuisance.
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God’s Good Gifts
The Bible says, “No good thing will I withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Psalm 34 says that those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing. This is true with food. There are things that God knows are good for us. Other things are not good for us they are not good things from God. In the garden there were a variety of things for Adam and Eve to eat. They were good things. But there were also things to eat that were not God’s good gifts for them. In fact their food choice was a matter of life and death.
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What Does It Take To Make You Happy?
What does it take to make you happy? I think happiness depends more on what you do with what you have than it does on what you have. Let me give you an example.
Saturday night I needed the house to be quiet and eight children can make a house a very noisy place. My week had been busy and the weekend was worse. I really needed to have some quiet study time and I didn’t want to work at the church. I wanted to stay with the family so I told them that if they wanted me to stay home they would have to be especially quiet so I could study. They all agreed.
I changed into comfortable clothes, arranged my workspace for undistracted study, and got down to business on the work. Suddenly my concentration was broken by a loud, repeated banging sound. Over and over again whatever was causing the noise seemed to shake the whole house.
Not wanting to express anger or irritation I called Hannah in and said; “Would you please go downstairs and ask whoever is making that loud noise to come and see me.” “Ask them real nice,” I said, “but tell them to come right away.” She went away and the pounding noise continued to shake the whole house.
A few minutes later the Hannah came back with a funny look on her face and said; “It’s Mom making the noise. Do you want me to tell her to come up?” “No, but what is she doing?” I asked. “Oh, she’s jumpin’ on bubble wrap,” Hannah answered.
That’s what I mean when I say that happiness depends more on what you do with what you have than it does on what you have. Arranging perfect surroundings and accumulating expensive things will not guarantee satisfaction in life. My wife is a simple woman with a childlike love for life. It doesn’t take much to make her happy or she wouldn’t have put up with me for over two decades. You just have to get her out to Wal-Mart kinda’ regular, let her get to the mailbox first, and keep a fresh supply of bubble wrap on hand.
Take a lesson from my wife. Don’t be so hard to please. And cultivate the ability to find joy in simple things. Like a boy kicking a can or a kitten batting a string.
The Lost Art of Skipping
I was in the bookstore and I saw a round headed, clear-eyed little black boy about seven years old easily skipping through the isles. He was an adorable little fella’ and he appeared happy and carefree. He reminded me of an equally cute little guy in our church named Andrew.
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