Courage For Today

grandmothers

Running From Things Not Chasing Us

Encouragement

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”  Matthew 6:34

I always enjoyed spending summers with my best friend at his grandmothers home in Middle Georgia.  It was my opportunity to spend a little time away from my normal home activities and enjoy hanging out with my buddy.   It was such a great time in life.  We swam in local swimming pools, played out on the farm, and even spent time fishing.  The local town was extremely small so it was an experience just walking around witnessing a taste of how life used to be back in the “good old days.”

I’ll never forget one of those days we decided to try our hand once again fishing.  We both enjoyed fishing a lot although we never had much success.  Honestly, I think we spent too much time talking and making so much noise that it scared the fish away.  When we finally had enough for the day, with no fish to brag about, we started our walk back to my friend’s grandmothers house.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, we approached a log that had a coiled snake sitting on top.  We both panicked and ran away from the snake, toward the house, as fast as our little legs would take us.

The snake was no danger whatsoever, but we didn’t stop to think otherwise.  We ran and ran and ran until we both were so out of breath we had to stop and rest.  Big mistake.  As we stopped to catch our breath, we both heard some crackling on the forest floor.  Our imaginations went wild and off we ran again.  Surely, there must be more snakes coming after us.  The faster we ran, the more we panicked.  Our journey home was filled with our imaginations gone wild.  Every leaf blowing in the wind and every stray animal noise meant instant death in our minds.  Our minds had convinced us to run from something that was never there to begin with, but you couldn’t have convinced us otherwise at the time.

Each of us goes through trials in our life.  For some of us, it is financial hardship.  For others, there are issues with family and relationships.  Many suffer from unemployment or medical concerns.  Whatever the burden may be in your own life, it is important to keep things in perspective.  The natural tendency is to jump immediately to the worse possible conclusion.  Instead of a cold, you have cancer.  Instead of missing a bill payment, you are in bankruptcy.  Instead of breaking up, you now are single the rest of your life.  I know because I’ve been guilty of doing this myself.

Don’t fall prey to running from things in life that aren’t even there.  Don’t manufacture and embellish facts that have never happened.  Concentrate on God’s plan for your life and let HIM worry about tomorrow.  We all have enough to be concerned about for this day alone.

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The Town’s Ever Flowing Artesian Well

Encouragement

I’ve said, in many other articles, that I loved to visit my Grandmother’s small hometown in middle Georgia. I have many memories as a young child and still think about those times often.  We didn’t go there much–maybe 2 or 3 times a year, but each time was an investment of memories that stick with me even today.

One unusual landmark of the small town was a community Artesian Well.  As a child, I really didn’t know what an Artesian well was, but I later learned it was a natural source of crystal clear water that flowed to the surface without the need of a pump.  It is different from well water in that the water constantly flows, as opposed to having to lower a bucket down into a well to retrieve water.  The Artesian Well was housed in a small brick building.  A small metal pipe protruded from the ground and through the wall of the brick structure and it was out of this pipe that the water flowed.

It didn’t matter what time of day you drove by the Artesian Well, you would see someone with a supply of buckets or plastic milk jugs filling them with this cold, clear water.  Even when no one was at the pump collecting water, the water still flowed.  You have to remember, I was a City boy and whenever I needed water at home, I would just turn on the water faucets.  I never could understand why citizens of this small town had to go to the site of the Artesian Well to get their drinking water.  I soon discovered that many citizens didn’t have plumbing and running water.  For those that did have running water, the water quality was so poor you couldn’t stand to drink it anyway.  The Artesian Well was an eternal source of clear, pure water that was a necessity for the survival of the town.

I’m sitting here this Sunday morning and being reminded of God’s eternal grace; mercy; and blessings. I think of how many times HE has shown me grace and patience when I didn’t deserve it.  I think of many more times when I deserved punishment and HE showed me Mercy.  I think of the multiple times HE has blessed me and my family beyond what I could measure or even imagine.  I think of how many times I’ve failed others, but how the Lord has never failed me.

It doesn’t matter what time of day or night I call upon the Lord, HE is there and HIS love is pure and clean.  In my grandmother’s town, the people visited the Artesian Well at all hours of the day and night to get water because they had confidence the water would always be flowing to meet their needs, and they knew the water would be pure and clean.  All the people had to do was go to the Well.  How true that is of our Heavenly Father.  He’s always there and all we have to do is go to HIM and he supplies all we need.

Where are you today with your Christian Walk?  Are you tapping into the pure, eternal love that only Jesus can provide?  Will you go to the ever-flowing Well today?

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