Thursday, September 9, 2010

The Good Soil

Good morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! I hope many of you got to see the sunrise this morning. It was all pink and blue and lovely. Seems like after a night rain, the sunrise is always beautiful! I did not see the sun set, though because of the clouds. Once again, we got our evening rain.

I didn't realize school was out at 1:30 on Wednesdays, until I decided to run some errands about that time and discovered lots of school buses and crossing guards getting to their jobs. I try not to go out when schools are letting out. Too much traffic on the roads!

I went to the Park, and saw a group having a picnic under the shelter, the usual Neighborly Center bus drivers, enjoying the breeze under the trees, and two anhingas airing out the wings. A great, blue heron was standing majestically in the canal fishing. God is good!

From Quiet Moments with God:

Ezekiel 17:8 It had been planted in good soil by abundant water so that it would produce branches, bear fruit and become a splendid vine.

An employee approached his employer and said, "I've had ten years of experience on this job, and I'm still making the same salary that I made when I started. It's time that I got a raise."

His boss retorted, "You haven't had ten years of experience. You've had one experience for ten years!"

Many of us feel that our lives could be described in the same way: one experience over and over again---or at best, boringly few experiences. When this is the pattern of our lives, we not only become depressed, but we also have no growth. Just as a garden needs fertilizer and nutrients to enrich its soil, we need the enrichment of activities and experiences to broaden our lives and stimulate our souls,

Joseph Campbell once said, "I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of live as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."

How, then may we enrich our lives? It must be intentional. Don't think that someone else can do it for you. There are multitudes of ways to get started:

. Take up a sport that you always wanted to play.

. Take you spouse or a friend out to dinner and the entertainment of your choice.

. Plan a trip to see something or someone interesting.

. Volunteer to do work that will help the less fortunate.

. Visit a friend that you haven't seen for a while.

. Get involved in a place of worship that challenges you.

Participate! Learn! Sing! Read! Praise! Listen! Give! Talk with your God! In experiences such as these you will fine the source of all the excitement that you can handle.

Experience is the mother of truth, and by experience we learn wisdom.
William Shippen Jr.

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!

Love and hugs, Amaryllis