Looking UNDER the socks!

 I inherited your book on living; it's mine forever—what a gift! And how happy it makes me!  I concentrate on doing exactly what you say—I always have and always will.

(Psalm 119:111-112 The Message)

I often kid with people, bringing a little humor into the day - - I enjoy living life to its fullest!  Laughter and celebration are an important part of life - - we should laugh often, enjoying each moment to its fullest.  We have all probably heard the saying, "If you cannot laugh at yourself, then who can you laugh at."  There are a couple of other iterations of this saying that bear mentioning:

"If you can't laugh at yourself, you must not own a mirror!"

"If you can't laugh at yourself, life's gonna seem a whole lot longer!"

I like the first one because it makes me laugh a little bit more!  I have to think about the second one because it makes me consider what a void life is without frequent times of celebration and laughter.  

I love watching my children and grandchildren opening their gifts on Christmas morning.  I observe their expressions with each gift.  The first package the littlest grandson picked out to open this year was one of mine.  As he got into the box, he began to pull out the first of four things within that box.  His face said it all!  

The first thing he removed was socks!  Imagine his look - - disappointment was spelled out on every inch of that wee face!  Not the gift he really expected - - or probably wanted!  Then he reached in for the next thing....more socks!  Uh oh!  Gramma was not doing too well with this one!  What he did not understand was that Gramma had used the socks to "fill in" the two toys underneath to keep them from rattling all around in the box!  When he finally found those - - the laughter came!

Sometimes God is like Gramma - -  he "packs" really desirable things with some pretty "regular" stuff - - we just have to dig a little deeper to find the really desirable things he puts a little deeper into the box we call life!  When we finally "hit upon" the desirable in the midst of the regular, our interpretation of the "gift" changes!  

I think this is what David might have had in mind when he penned these words:  "I inherited your book on living; it's mine forever—what a gift!"  I am sure David had to "weed through" a few "ordinary" church services, routine studying of the Word, determined listening to preachers explain the passages, and then as if by some miracle, there it was - - the "desired" gift!  He was weeding through the ordinary until he found the desirable!

In those moments, laughter brought lightness to his heart, even in the midst of some of the greatest trials.  When God reveals himself, the heart's response is gladness.  We cannot but smile, even laugh a little, whenever our heart is made light in a dark time!

Imagine God's Word as a gift, beautifully wrapped, carefully "packaged" so as much content "fits" into it as possible.  Sometimes our study will be like "sock" days - - good to have, but not really something that "wows" us.  At others, our study uncovers something in which we will take great delight - - enjoying it over and over again until we almost are worn out in the revelry of the gift!