“My Dream Message”

“Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; ⁷ for we brought nothing into the world, so that  we can take nothing out of it; ⁸ but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. ⁹ But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.” 1 Timothy 6:6-10

“I dreamed that I stood beside a gigantic wild rosebush. In my hand I held one of the beautiful fragrant flowers. I looked at it and drank in its rich perfume, but I saw a great number of flowers, and I desired more than the one, so I held it in my left hand and began to reach up for others. They were very high, so I pressed against the outer limbs and stretched to my utmost, but they were too high; I could not get them. I stepped back from the bush. As I did so, my gaze fell upon the rose in my hand just in time to see its petals fall to the ground. In stretching for those beyond my reach, I had ruined the one that was already mine. I gazed upon the empty stem in my hand and at the bruised petals upon the ground with a feeling of regret.

The scene changed. I sat at a desk with pencil and paper, and in my dream wrote these words: “If you have but one rose, enjoy it to the full. Do not let its perfume be wasted upon the empty air, and its beauty go unnoticed, while you spend your time in vain longing for the unattainable.” (C.W. Naylor, “Heart Talks”, p. 135-136)

How natural it is for us to forget what riches and beauty we already have while we are striving for the unattainable. Paul says “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…in eagerness to be rich, some have pierced themselves with many pains.” Contentment seems to be lost today. Everywhere advertisers encourage us to strive for more goods because we deserve it – we deserve the good life. The story that C.W. Naylor shares in our passage today is instructive. While holding something of great beauty in his hands, when he saw more, he tried to grasp at the unattainable, and in the process he wasted what he had. When we look around us throughout our lives, we can see example after example of people who have done just that. Instead of being content with what they had, they tried all they could to get more, and in the process ruined what they already had. As the writer of Timothy states, we came into this world with nothing, and we will go out of this world with just as much – except this: people will remember our generosity and our compassion. Instead of hoarding and grasping for more and more, why not give more away.

Pastor Dave

“Doing Something Worthwhile”

“Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. ³ Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. ⁷ Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸ and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹ The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰ So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” ¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹² He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”  Exodus 3:1-12

“…what is really worth while in life? Is it only those things that make a great show? If all God’s people could learn this lesson—that it really counts just simply to live right, just simply to be an ordinary every-day Christian; it would glorify their lives, it would exalt their lives, and they would not feel discouraged.” (C.W. Naylor, “Heart Talks”, p. 63-64)

Moses, after being raised in Pharaoh’s court, flees to the land of Midian to work for his father-in-law as a shepherd. He did this work for many years. He wasn’t facing armies or defeating giants – he was simply keeping sheep. Some would say this is not great training for his next calling. But the Lord obviously thought otherwise. The Lord believed that caring for sheep – faithfully leading them, feeding them, caring for them and protecting them was actually great training for his next phase in life. It is not as if being a shepherd was not worthwhile. No matter the vocation we are called to do, we can make it meaningful for G-d and our neighbor.

Sometimes, like our friend Moses, we might find ourselves spending time in the wilderness, when it just seems that G-d allows us to be shut up in a corner, as it were. But all of the experiences we face in our lives can and will count on us if they do not count anywhere else. There is one thing and just one thing that matters above all other things in life, and that is faithfulness. No matter what your life may be now, or may have been in the past, or where you think it is moving to next, if you are just faithful it is sure to count, and to count a great deal. That is one thing that all of us can do every day: we can be faithful to the Lord.

Pastor Dave