The Plumbline

Wow! I saw this post today and just wanted to share it: I asked God...'Why are you taking me through troubled waters?'...He replied, 'Because your enemies can't swim.' ( Source ) Think on that one a bit and it might just blow your mind. We are going through troubled waters - not on accident - but on purpose. Not to be consumed by our enemies - to drown them! We might think the 'high waters' and 'rough seas' are put there to toss us about and capsize us, swallowing us up in the depth of their expanse, but God has a different purpose for those rough waters.  Late that day he said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”  Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea,...

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin reminds us, "The most satisfying thing in life is to have been able to give a large part of one's self to others." He also reminds us that growing old is like being punished for some kind of crime we definitely did not commit! While he is best known as a philosopher of an era gone by, he obviously had a pretty good sense of humor, as well! I don't know about you, but 'giving myself' to others has become easier as I have grown older. I think we get a little less 'self-important' as we age. We find the value in others and we see how much they are a tremendous blessing in our lives. It isn't that we need to 'put ourselves out there' any longer - we are content to be a blessing in the lives of another. Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill s...