The Plumbline

Walt Kelly is quoted as saying, "Every burden is a blessing."  Walt is probably best known as the cartoonist who created the little character strip known as "Pogo".  He began as a cartoonist for Walt Disney, bringing characters to life in Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. In one of his simple strips in the Pogo series, Pogo is walking along with Porkypine and is struggling to make it across the forest floor because of the prickly pine needles. As the two sit to nurse those wounds inflicted by the thick undergrowth and ponder the dilemma, Pogo simply says, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."  The enemy is us - what a somber thought, huh?  I once heard it said there are three people in the driver's seat of our lives - the person we are at this very moment, the one we could be if we gave into every whim or fancy of evil which presents itself to us, and the one we most certainly want to be by letting Christ do the driving.  The struggle comes in deciding ...

" Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others ?'" (Martin Luther King, Jr) It is far easier for us to complain about what another has not done for us than it is to admit we may have done very little for them! It isn't that all of life is give and take - you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. It is us giving without restraint - regardless of the return we might receive on that "investment" of service. Jesus never said we were to look for a reward in our actions as much as he said we should perform the actions "worthy" of reward. Think of the kindness you wish others would show you; do the same for them. (Luke 6:31 VOICE) Too many times we focus on what others need to be doing for us - what we believe we deserve becomes dominant in our lives.  It is a strange thing for us to think outside of ourselves at times - because after all, we were born thinking about self first above all. It seems the ...