The Plumbline

I’m determined to watch steps and tongue so they won’t land me in trouble. (Psalm 39:1) If you have ever tried to "watch your steps", you might just have tripped over your own two feet! Worse yet, you are actually paying so close attention to your steps, you miss the post in front of you and run smack-dab into it! You probably notice this the most whenever you are trying to watch what you say - for words can be the toughest things to keep a rein on. At the moment we determine to watch our words, we can almost count on something slipping past our lips, out into the open space between us and the ones who will hear them, never to be in our control again! Determining we are going to influence our steps or control our tongue is silly because of our total inability to do either! We definitely need some influence outside of our own effort to get this stuff right, don't we? "But as I stood there in silence—not even speaking of good things—the turmoil within me grew wor...

Sophocles reminded us: "Quick decisions are unsafe decisions." I have made my share of those 'impromptu' decisions, only to regret the aftermath of not having taken more time to think things through. How about you? Deciding without knowing all the facts can lead to unforeseen consequences. Ever turn the wrong way thinking you were going to take a shortcut somewhere only to find yourself smack-dab in the middle of a traffic jam? The bad decision not only made you late, but it gave you unwanted stress and anxiety as you crept along in all that traffic. While that may not have been what some may label as an 'unsafe' decision, it might have been 'unsafe' in the terms of what it did to your reputation by being late, or in how it affected the others who were waiting on your arrival in terms of their worry, lost work time, or frustrations. As I have said on more than one occasion, our decisions - good or bad - affect not only us, but all those around us. Prid...

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.  (Eleanor Roosevelt) Yet there is one ray of hope: his compassion never ends . It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day . My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:21-26) It is good BOTH to HOPE and WAIT QUIETLY. In the quietness of waiting, do you brim with hope and expectation? If you are relying upon the loving-kindness of God today, then I daresay you are filled with the best hope there is! It might be hard for us to understand God's compassion, but we don't have to fully understand it to appreciate it and thank him with a grateful heart. The Lord's mercies are new each and every day - dare I say they are new each an...