Month: July 2023

“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.”

Genesis 28:16 ( NIV)

Everyone experiences some type of scarcity at some point in their lives. A scarcity could refer to something other than a financial or material undersupply. There are scarcities of health, hope, love, peace, courage, and the list could go on.

God has met people in a special way, while they were in a place of scarcity. If we look at examples through scripture, when anyone struggled for lack of something, their faith was rewarded in a special way by a manifestation of God’s presence. 

Jacob was fleeing from his twin brother, Esau, who sought to kill him and take back his birthright, after he traded it for a bowl of stew, in a moment of hunger. Jacob was living like a fugitive, trying to escape his brother’s vengeance. He was living with a scarcity of peace and security. 

Sometimes we are not aware that God is right here with us, in our moments of anxiety and insecurity. When Jacob laid down to sleep one night, he dreamed of a ladder or stairway that led to heaven. God met him in that dream, telling him He would be with him and watch over him wherever he goes, promising to bring him back to this land. God confirmed that Jacob would live, and that his descendants would have their own nation, the promised land. Jacob woke up and said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it,” and he found peace and security knowing everything was going to be alright. 

During a drought and a famine, the prophet Elijah came to the house of a poor widow. He asked her to make him something to eat and in her scarcity of food, she used the last of her flour and oil to feed the prophet. By taking what she had and giving it to the prophet of God, she was giving her scarcity to God. His presence was manifested over those jars of flour and oil, they never became empty again. When we bring whatever we lack to God, He blesses us in our scarcity, in a lasting and special way. 

Peter spoke to a poor, crippled  beggar who had a scarcity of everything, health, financial and spiritual well being.  Peter, himself, was scarce in money, and he said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Then taking him by the right hand, the man jumped to his feet and began to walk. The mention of Jesus’ name brought healing power to the body of a paralyzed man. Peter gave what simple faith he had, and Jesus met the crippled beggar in his scarcity that day. 

When family friends of Mary ran out of wine, early on in their wedding celebration, God already was present at that wedding feast in the person of Jesus. He took the jars of water and changed them into wine. It was His first public miracle, and it all started with scarcity, and in this case it was a scarcity of wine. The guests marveled that the best quality wine was served last.

When God comes to us in our scarcity, He brings quality blessings with Him. The scarcity of wine led to the first miracle, which led to the first public awareness that the Messiah was here, as Jesus changed water into top quality wine. 

We also may not know God is right here with us, while we are looking at our lack, in some form of empty jars, weak, crippled legs, or listening to threatening words. He will give us His peace as He gave it to Jacob, through his dream. When we give our scarcity to God, as the widow did, He replenishes our emptiness, as He did with her jars. We serve a God who transformed water into top quality wine, and brought healing and salvation to a crippled man, all in the name of Jesus. 

The bridal party was a platform used to first introduce Jesus, the Messiah, to the world, and it all began through a scarcity of wine. The world is full of scarcities and God is still trying to introduce Jesus to the world today.

We never know how God will show up in our personal scarcity, but we know that His mercies are present for us in new ways each day. 

(Lamentations 3:22-23)

Lord, we bring our scarcity to you and trust you will meet us where we are. Whether it’s financial, health related, or a scarcity of security, peace, patience, courage, hope or love, Jesus, please fill us with whatever we are lacking. We say as Jacob said, “Truly the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.”

Amen

“Call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

Psalm 50:15 (RSV)

I become overwhelmed when things break or malfunction, especially when I’m not sure who to call first, to get it fixed.  If you live alone like me, you will understand how stressful this can be. 

I once shared the story of when my dryer vent broke loose and I didn’t know whether I should go to Home Depot to ask an employee for advice, or hire a handyman. Then I recalled when my husband died, that his best friend, Ben, told me to call him if I ever needed anything. Hesitating at first, I finally called Ben and he immediately came over, looked at the problem, went to buy the part that was needed, and fixed the dryer vent. I felt that my husband would want me to call him in that situation and I’m glad I did, but I don’t want to call Ben for everything. 

When something breaks or malfunctions, God has to be my first “go to”person. First, I want to call on Him, and then I’ll ask God who to call next. 

I recently lost my internet connection, and tried restarting and replugging it, but nothing helped. I learned from my internet provider that I needed a new modem. Computer issues stress me out, since I have limited technical skill or knowledge in that area. I think this is true of most people in my generation, while our kids are naturally adapted to the entire computer world they grew up in. 

My son is comfortable navigating the internet for everything. He learned many skills, through “YouTube” instructional videos. From watching these videos, he learned how to remodel his own house, from flooring, to kitchen cabinets, to plumbing, and other household projects. 

Unfortunately he lives out of state, so 

when I need something fixed, I have to call a professional company. Before I do so, I pray for a good repairman, but also made a habit of asking God to send an angel along with him, to guide him through every aspect of the project, because every repairman needs extra help from above. 

It’s funny because most of the repairmen who’ve done work in my home, had first names of a heavenly origin. My window man was Michael, my electrician was Raphael, and my plumber was Gabriel. To top it off,  my exterminator’s name was Jesus. 

Not that names really matter, but it’s funny, considering my prayer for heavenly assistance. 

If I pray first, I always get a person who does a great job. In my home, it’s not DIY (do it yourself), but rather DIWJ (do it with Jesus).

My point is that calling first on God in our day of trouble, and receiving the help we need, does matter. Having a problem we cannot solve on our own, leaves us feeling a sense of distress, and we can feel quite alone, even when we are not alone. If we make God the first go to person, He will lead us in the right path. Whatever kind of trouble we have, today’s verse tells us to call upon God in our day of trouble, and He will deliver us and send us help.

Lord, I pray you give each reader a sense of confidence in you to know beyond a doubt, that you hear us when we call, and will send us the help we need. We thank you and give you all the honor and glory for what you are about to do for us. Amen

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Psalm 103:8-12 (NASB)

Have you ever had deep regrets about something? I’ve had plenty in my lifetime. Have you ever mumbled to yourself, things like this:

“What was I thinking?, “Why did I trust him?”, “Why did I ever confide in her?”, “What made me do that?”, or “Why didn’t I say this or that when I had the chance?”

We have all had experiences where we were hurt by being either too naive and trusting, or have hurt others by being in a careless and carnal state of mind. There are things in all of our pasts that we have lived to regret. 

Whether we were hurt or hurt others, we can find ourselves living with a deep sense of regret, wishing we could go back and have the chance to do it over. I know what regret feels like, but what about God? Does He ever regret His faithfulness to us, or regret showing us His abundant mercy?

These verses from Psalm 103 tell us that He does not. God is abounding in lovingkindness.  He removes our sins as far as the East is from the West. That means He never regrets showing mercy or having forgiven us of anything as long as we have done our part by confessing it. He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.  (1 Peter 5:5)

God never has second thoughts, and He never thinks, “This person has fallen too often, so I’m done with him or her.” God never stops pursuing us, loving us, and believing in us. He has no regrets because His nature is “slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” The heart of God is perpetually full of love and hope for you and me. 

If we trust in His son as our Savior, we will never receive what our past sins deserve. This Psalm is a description of grace, in saying “He will not keep anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. His lovingkindness is over those who fear Him”. 

David wrote these words under the inspiration of the Spirit, and if anyone lived a life of God’s grace, David did. 

We may fall but we stand up again by His grace. It sounds like we serve a God who has absolutely no regrets in forgiving us and showering us with mercy. 

As I wrote this meditation, I overheard a TV interview with a Neuroscientist regarding faith and the brain. She has a doctorate in Neuro psychoanalysis, and yet she made a complex subject so simple to grasp.

Neuroscience research has found that our brains have the ability to learn to be responsive rather than reactive. It’s called neuro plasticity and it means that wherever we direct our attention to, is where our neurons, or nerve cells of our brain, will grow. 

This scientific finding supports the belief that a person of faith grows neurons, and can renew their mind and transform their energy by willfully directing their attention on God, through prayer or reading scripture. This neuro plasticity is what maintains a healthy renewed mind. 

The next time regret or any negative thoughts overcrowd your mind, reread these verses in Psalm 103. If God has no regrets toward loving and forgiving us, then we should have no more regrets over our past, which has been surrendered to Jesus. 

Lord, your love for us is so overwhelming. You forgive us again and again, and never regret it. Help us today, to direct our attention to you in every situation, and to live in the full freedom of your lovingkindness and mercy. Amen

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Luke 12:6-7 (RSV)

I think we all have a tendency to underestimate God’s interest in the details of our lives. It’s truthfully hard to process the fact that God would know the number of hairs on our head. After all, isn’t He far too high above to care about our smallest details ?

We tend to think that He cares about getting us to heaven, but has no interest in the minor day to day details of our lives. Yet, scripture, biology, astronomy and all of nature proves that God is in all the details. 

The first five books of the Bible are filled with details of how to arrange and handle every sacred object on the altar of God’s temple; the menorah candlesticks, the holy bread of the Presence, the ark of the covenant, the incense and the various offerings. God had specific requirements about all these details, which shows that He cares about them. 

If He cares about the details of the temple worship, He also cares about the details of our lives, because we are all temples of the Holy Spirit. 

When God decided to become a man, He thought out all the details. He chose to be conceived in the womb of a woman. Not just any woman, but a Jewish woman, and not just any Jewish woman, He created Mary, with all the qualities and characteristics He wanted in the mother of His son. That requires a lot of attention to details. 

Out of all the nations in the world to be born in, He chose a tiny area in the Middle East. Of all the various cultures, nations and races across the world, He chose to be born through Abraham’s lineage and genealogy, as a Jewish man in a Jewish land.  

Not only did God select the mother and father who would raise His son, He cared enough to pick His name,  and told Mary on the day He was conceived, to name Him Jesus. 

It was part of His plan that Mary and Joseph raise this child devoutly Jewish, familiar with the writings of the law and the prophets, wearing the garment with tassels at the edge, and adhering to all the usual Jewish customs and observances. If God selected a culture filled with details for His one and only incarnation, then details matter to Him. 

Even dates are details that matter to God. The Passover lamb was to be slain on the 14th of Nissan, roasted and eaten by a household with no leftovers. Historians and archeologists can verify that Jesus was crucified and died on the 14th day of Nissan. He became our eternal Passover lamb, even in the date that He died. It all shows that God plans and pays incredible attention to details and dates.

As I think about how fascinating every detail of His plans are, it’s no coincidence that an earthquake shook the area, the moment when Jesus died on that day. The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 27, mentions that an earthquake coincided with the crucifixion. On April 3 in the year 33, which correlates to the 14th day of Nissan of the Hebrew calendar, geologists have evidence of seismic activity, located 13 miles from Jerusalem. This investigation was reported in International Geology Review. 

How awesome that science, history, geology, astronomy and scripture all correlate to each other on the day Jesus died on the cross. God Almighty is in all the details, and when I find myself thinking that He doesn’t care about my details, my thinking is too small. God is big enough to know and care about each human being on this earth, and is willing to show Himself as the God of our details. Nothing is impossible for Him. 

We were created to acknowledge Him in “all” our ways, because He already knows all of ours. He knows the current count of hairs on our head, at each and every moment of every day. 

Lord God, thank you for creating all the details that provided for the gift of our salvation and atonement, through Jesus, who died for us. As your eye is on each sparrow, thank you for being in all the details of each of our lives today and always. Amen

“And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and “his garments became white as light.”

Matthew 17:2 (RSV)

This transfiguration was a mystical experience. It took place on a high mountain top, where two deceased men of God reappeared for a few moments with Jesus, as His face shone like the sun and His garments became like dazzling white light. Peter, James and John were the only ones with Him and witnessed Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah. 

(Matthew 17:3)

Moses had the honor of meeting and speaking with the eternal Passover lamb of God. Elijah, who raised the dead, called down fire from heaven, healed leprosy and performed many miracles, was honored to meet the incarnate God and Savior of the world. I wonder what they talked about on that mountain top.

Then a cloud hovered over the three disciples and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Upon hearing the voice, they dropped to the ground, lying prostrate in fear. Can you imagine hearing an audible voice from a cloud that just descended over you? Jesus touched them saying, “Rise, do not be afraid.” Then the three looked up and saw only Jesus remaining, as Moses and Elijah disappeared. 

This mystical experience wasn’t for the purpose of escaping reality, as some meditation practices do. Instead of an escape from reality, it was a verification of reality. The transfiguration revealed just who Jesus really is. The three disciples heard God speak from a cloud, and He made it clear that no one else is comparable to His son. It was to remind us to always keep our focus on Jesus. 

In the world, we are distracted by pseudo transfigurations. They are emotion stirring causes that shine bright, but lure people away from Jesus and His truth. Although times change over the years, the devil’s tactics remain the same.

There have always been pseudo transfigurations, throughout history. 

In the beginning of Stalin’s rule, the hammer and sickle commemorated the hard work and solidarity of working class people. Many who supported his policies were deceived, and what started as a radiant symbol of hope for fairness among workers, ended up as a loss of freedom and loss of lives, through Stalin’s brutal, tyrannical and oppressive regime of communism.

The hippie peace movement of the 60’s and 70’s, swept the world with a pretense of peace and love, but actually sent the world on a downward moral spiral, removing all moral barriers, resulting in increased sexually transmitted diseases, pornography, child sex trafficking, and a climbing rate of divorce and abortion. In spite of the images of flowers, peace and love, it was an era of moral decay. The peace symbol was the icon of those years, but closer examination reveals that a peace symbol is essentially an upside down, broken cross.  ☮️

The Son of God is still the one and only true transfiguration. He is not an illusion or a form of escape from the real world. He is the real radiance of God’s glory and He sustains all things by his powerful word, and that includes sustaining our faith in discerning the false messiahs, deceptive causes and shiny distractions. 

Jesus lays His hand on each of us as He did to the three on that mountain top, saying “Rise, do not be afraid.” Only through Him can we be purified from sin, comforted and receive true peace. That is the timeless, unchanging truth of the gospel message for the past two thousand years. 

He alone is worthy of glory and praise. He is still radiant, now sitting at the right hand of God’s Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:3) 

By God’s grace, we will be saved through faith in His eternal covenant, through His son, by His blood, in His way, and not by any leader or a movement in this world. 

Lord, help us to discern your true light, apart from the deceptive pseudo transfigurations that are in the world. Lay your hand on us and raise us up, without fear, seeking only your truth and love, to see the fulness of your radiance. Amen

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

1 Peter 2:9 ( NIV)

Margherita pizzas originated in Naples, Italy, to honor Queen Margherita, of Italy, when she visited the city of Naples. A pizza maker wanted to honor the Queen with a pizza made of the colors of the Italian flag. The three ingredients he used were mozzarella cheese, tomato and basil, and that’s how the pizza got its name. 

Beef Wellington was named after the Duke of Wellington. There is a particular type of rose named after Queen Elizabeth II, and another one named after Princess Diana of Wales. There are foods, places, flowers, roads, and many other things named after royalty. It’s a way of preserving the honor of the royal person they are named after. 

Whoever is a believer in Christ is named after Him. Christian, is a name meaning “of Christ” and the suffix “ian” comes from Latin meaning possessed by or belonging to. That means we are people who belong to Christ. Instead of a food, a flower, a road or a thing, He has a universal nation, a church of believers throughout the world, in every nation, culture, race, and language, who carry His name.

Since He is royalty, then we, who carry His name, are also royals. We were meant to bring honor to Jesus, who is our King. 

Scripture calls us joint heirs with Christ, and ambassadors for Christ. Any way you look at it, we have been promoted and lifted up to a status we don’t deserve, but it was bought and paid for by Christ, therefore, we live according to our true status. 

We are royals because our Father is the King of the universe. We are God’s special possession, a royal priesthood and joint heirs with Jesus.

Today’s scripture says we are chosen, royal and special. God has called us out of the darkness and into His wonderful light. We are not outcasts, hoping to be accepted. We have been given this lifetime to discover our privileges and inherited blessings, so that we can live as we were meant to, as children of a king. 

Jesus tells us what will happen one day when we stand before God:“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”  

(Matthew 25:34)

Lord, we adore and praise you in all your majesty and royalty, and we pray we will live up to our full inheritance, in preparation for the kingdom you have prepared for us one day. Help us to live like we are your special possession, your royal heirs, according to your word. Amen

“As he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward, beseeching him saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion answered him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

Matthew 8:5-8 (RSV)

The Roman Centurion pursued Jesus for the sake of his servant, who became paralyzed and was bedridden. He probably stood out in that crowd around Jesus, since not many Roman Centurions publicly followed Him. As he pushed through to get closer to Jesus, he realized there was something exceptional about Him, which was the divine, real presence of God. 

When he asked Jesus to heal his servant, Jesus offered to go to his home, but the centurion stopped Him, asking Him to only say the word, and his servant would be healed. As the Centurion stood face to face with Jesus, he sensed the real presence of God, and believed in His power and authority, and that His spoken word would be enough. He was also more aware of his own unworthiness. Jesus did what he asked and the paralyzed servant was healed. When Jesus spoke, He miraculously brought back life to a dead spinal cord. 

The Centurion left all his pride, prestige and previous perceptions of God behind him, in order to totally invest himself in Jesus, and his investment paid off. Everything Jesus did was an act of God’s love, grace and mercy, which no one is worthy of, because it is the gift of God. 

Jesus had just entered the town of Capernaum when He met the Roman Centurion. Capernaum, in Hebrew, literally translates to “Village of Comfort.” How beautiful and fitting it is to go to the Village of Comfort to ask the divine Son of God for a miraculous healing. The Centurion also found his Savior that day, in the Village of Comfort.

God intended for His church to be a Village of Comfort for the world, and to carry the scent of His son everywhere we go, and in all we do. We who believe, carry the presence of Jesus through His Spirit who lives within us, and He wants us to share Him with the world. 

“For we are the aroma of Christ for God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15)

Like the Centurion, we also revere His presence and believe in the power of His spoken word. We have fully invested ourselves by faith in the divine person of Jesus, His cross and resurrection.

Lord, we revere your holy Presence, and thank you for making us an aroma of Christ and your church, a Village of Comfort for all who seek you. We are unworthy, yet we thank you for all the benefits of salvation, healing and renewal that you have given us by grace through faith in you. Amen

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

Psalm 23:6 (RSV)

The look on this little lamb’s face is worth a thousand words. He seems to be saying, where is everybody?  Which way is home? 

He doesn’t know that his shepherd is right behind him, running to catch him before he wanders deeper in the woods. He just hasn’t looked back yet. 

I remember being lost in the woods once. My relatives had a cabin in the woods somewhere in Michigan, and our family went for a visit, when I was about four years old. Somehow I wandered away from the cabin and got lost in the woods. Some very kind people in a nearby cabin found me and took me in. They kept me safe until they could find my worried parents. (Needless to say, I’ve never been a fan of camping or sleeping out in the woods.)

We may not be lost in the physical woods, but we can feel the same isolation or loneliness, being in a metaphoric woods, far away from our familiar cabin. 

It could be any situation that shakes our sense of well being or what was familiar. The woods we are wandering in could be an estranged relationship, or financial insecurity or a new health scare. 

Paul wrote “The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6) 

Paul was imprisoned when he wrote these words. He didn’t know if he would be freed or put to death. He said “the Lord is at hand,” and if He is at hand, it means He is nearby, and aware of our sense of isolation or anxiety. 

Maybe He is right behind us, like the shepherd running after his sheep that wandered off. God knows how to best manifest His goodness and mercy in our lives, and it doesn’t depend on our emotions. We trust Him because He said so.

Some days God’s goodness and mercy is revealed through others, like the kind lady who took me into her cabin that day. Other times, His goodness may be disguised as a temporary disappointment. God wants what is best for us, and He may delay the answer to our prayer for a good reason, or He might have a better answer than the one we asked for. Whether we receive the answer as we wanted, or in a different form, God still shepherds us and gives us what we need. 

When we feel alone or forgotten, we only need to look behind us, remembering this verse of scripture, and believe, as Paul said, that the Lord is at hand. David wrote that His goodness and mercy follows us always. We can trust that He is following behind us, and time will prove that the difficult trial really was for our good.

Goodness and mercy is more than a shift in our destiny, or the answers we want to our prayers, it’s a person. Jesus, is the good and merciful shepherd, who is following behind us all the days of our life. 

Lord, help us to pause from worry and look back, by faith, knowing  that you, Jesus, have always been running after us, as in this picture. Come, take control of our mind, body and spirit, as we cast our anxieties on you today. Thank you for your goodness and mercy which will follow us, all the days of our life. Amen

“……the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being, things that were not.”

Romans 4:17 (NIV)

There is enough power in this simple verse of scripture to give us the faith to believe for almost anything. 

The words, “God gives life to the dead and calls into being the things that were not,” can pertain to anything in our lives that is perishing and needs new life.

A marriage relationship could be failing, needing new life, but God can resurrect it and call it back into being. A physical or mental health condition that was not whole, can become whole. I ask God to call back to life, the faith of two loved ones of mine, my brother and one of my sons, as their faith appears to have died. God can call into being, that which does not currently exist. 

Whether it’s the health of a  relationship or the health of cells, nerves, arteries, bones or joints, He can make what does not exist to be present and whole again. 

If it sounds too hard to believe, here is one true story. A man in my church had surgery many years ago, which did not go well at all, and resulted in paralysis. He was told that his nerves were damaged permanently, and he would never recover. He suffered with his paralysis, until he heard of a healing prayer service, which he managed to go to. At that healing service, the emphasis was on the importance of forgiving anyone they need to forgive. Forgiving precedes healing. Faith moves mountains, but love is greater than faith. Healing can flow when unforgiveness is confessed to God.

(1 Corinthians 13:5) 

Something miraculous happened that day, and he was healed after that. The “damaged or dead nerves” in his body were renewed, as if called back to life, and he has no deficits at all. His physical therapists and doctors still have no explanation for his recovery. He is a man of faith who would love the Lord whether he was healed or not. To this day, when he tells this story, he refuses to name the surgeon who performed the original surgery, which left him paralyzed. He completely forgave him, which means not slandering his reputation. I have never seen such  true forgiveness, and healing that flowed from it. 

We don’t bother God when we ask Him for the miraculous. Without faith, it’s impossible to please Him, since He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews11:6) 

Jesus never reprimanded anyone for believing too much, He sure never said,  “Oh ye of too much faith.” 

If anything, He rebuked people for lack of faith. When we forgive and pray for our enemies, we remove our limitations on God, and can move on to trust and believe what Jesus said,

“he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.”(John 14:12)

He can resurrect faith in our loved ones who have stopped believing, or resurrect our physical health, psychological health, marital health, or the health of any broken relationships. We offer our prayers in the name of Jesus, who goes to the Father on our behalf, our resurrection power working God.

Lord, we believe your word, and forgive our enemies, trusting your resurrection power to bring a mountain moving miracle to that need in our life which we lift before you today. Amen

“Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?”
For it is not wise to ask such questions.”

Ecclesiastes 7:10 ( NIV)

The Lord was pleased when He offered King Solomon anything he wanted, and all he asked for was wisdom. 

For that, God gave him a “wise and discerning heart, such as no one else would ever have after him.”

(1 Kings 3:10-12) 

That was a great gift, and with all that wisdom, he wrote three books in the Old Testament. In today’s scripture, Solomon, the wisest man, tells us that it’s not wise to ask why the good old days were so much better. It definitely is not wise to do, because I’ve found if I dwell too much on the past, or on who or what I have lost, it affects my state of mind, and can easily put me in a state of depression. 

Solomon is right, that we should not spend today worrying about yesterday. Jesus also told us not to worry about the future. We cannot change the past and only God knows what our future holds, so

that leaves us one option; to live in the present. 

There is a lady named Virginia, who lives in Maine.  She is 103, and still working in the lobster industry. She’s the oldest working lobster harvester in Maine. She is driven to her boat every day by her 80 year old son, Max, who works alongside her, placing lobster traps early each morning. 

When I heard this story I was amazed at how a woman,103 years old, is still going to work each day. She’s surely not a typical senior citizen. She has been a widow for years, and has most likely outlived most friends and loved ones as well. Instead of sitting home, dwelling on her loneliness or past losses, she lives in her present active lifestyle. 

As Virginia gets up early and is out of the house every morning, she heads to her boat where she traps lobsters. She is far too busy for any of the usual concerns of a 103 year old. She lives in the energy level of a 30 year old. 

In spite of not knowing anything about Virginia’s faith, I think there is a faith lesson for all of us to learn from her. How does Virginia live in the energy of a thirty year old? 

I believe it’s because she lives in the present. Worry and anxiety is unhealthy for the body and the mind. 

Virginia wakes up with the energy to manage the current day only. Each day she heads to her boat, with a zeal to do only what that day requires. It keeps her mind in the present, and also seems to have kept her physically in tact for 103 years. 

She may be unknowingly following Solomon’s wise advice, by living in a present day state of mind. Jesus gave us the same advice saying, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Matthew 6:34)

If we merge the example of Virginia with the advice of Solomon and Jesus, it would mean cherishing today, living in the present and loving God with the fruit of our energy for this day, since we don’t know what tomorrow brings. It’s probably the secret to maintaining a healthy and happy mind, body and soul. 

Lord, give us the grace to have healthy youthful energy, and the wisdom to know how to better live in the now. Amen