Today's Thought | Ain't Complicated

The Door of My House

O God, make the door of this house wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship;
narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife.

(Unknown said that.)

PS: You ought to read about Dorcas Smucker’s need for a new motherboard.

He Prayed Earnestly

“”He prayed earnestly” (James 5:17).

What compels me to pray earnestly?

Not much.

Usually, a huge spiritual crisis…particularly in my family.

Nobody said I had to wait that long!

I believe earnest prayer can minimize and even prevent such crises from happening.

So pray, Mark!

Don’t grow lax and lazy.

Don’t be forgetful.

Don’t get tired and discouraged.

Don’t give up.

Keep It on the Road!

[Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way (Proverbs 13:6)]

To live right…live right.

To do right…choose right.

To stay on the road…make that determination.

In other words, deciding to make right choices sure makes it more likely that I will make right choices.

It amazes me to see people (including me) trying to follow Jesus…but making choices (even “little” ones) that don’t contribute to staying in The Way.

Oh, and if you want to see what else I wrote this morning related to Proverbs 13, click the image above. In fact, I wish you would.

(By the way, I took the picture last winter while driving on Oregon’s Highway 26 in the Mt. Hood area. We were on our way to Madras.)

Try It Today!

To access a larger version of the graphic — and to be reminded of something else to try today — click the above image.

Thank you!

The “Losers” Out There

You really ought to read the whole thing. Here are the concluding paragraphs.

My African Violet

My mind made the leap from herbs to men. One encounters people throughout one’s life who look like damaged goods. And no doubt they are. Droopy and lifeless, or curled in on themselves, they look gruesome and make the onlooker recoil and turn away.

The plant withered because it was trying to save itself. The unappealing person caved in with depression or addiction or surliness is trying to save himself too. The lesson from the African Violet — and a cardinal rule for understanding human behavior — is that no one does anything for no reason. You need to find the reason. And just knowing that there is one stirs my compassion.

Thank you, Andrée Seu!