Just A Little More
by Barbara Chadwick


I slurped up the last bit of my Creamy Chocolate Slim Fast Drink through my straw and said, "I always feel like there should be a couple more ounces in these things." Kenneth smiled and said, "That's the way life is. We want a little more banana puddin' or little bigger house or a little nicer car and on and on."

When do we have enough?  Certain monks live in monasteries with austere bedrooms - cells, it seems like. They have a bed, a table and a straight backed chair.  I think of my bedroom with a carpet, a bed, two side tables, two easy chairs, a dresser, an antique secretary and a wood stove. And I think I need a new bed and a new chair! Let's don't even talk about all the stuff that's in the attic!!

Jesus said in Luke 12:15, Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.


Paul, realizing the end of his life was near, said in II Peter 1:14, ...the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent...   And the Psalmist said, You, indeed have made my days short in length, and my life span as nothing in Your sight. Surely every man at his best is a mere breath.... he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. Psalm 39:5 & 6b 

Life is too short to worry about possessions and to make life's ambition just to have fun.

I have some friends who think of life as a playground. They are always looking for the next funnest thing to do. As they sit around the table they take turns telling the next place in the world they want to visit and the exciting thing they want to accomplish in that far-off place as if that's what life is about - fun and games.

But we're told in Ephesians chapter 5 to:
        be imitators of God
        do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you
        you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light
        learn what is pleasing to the Lord
        be careful how you walk
        make the most of your time because the days are evil

Perhaps it would behoove us to think of our time on earth as fleeting or temporary. Paul encourages us in Philippians 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.... and the God of peace will be with you.

You don't need more you just need to be thankful for what God has given you.

The Water Of Life
by Barbara Chadwick
 
I went downstairs to get some water to take with us in the car. It is an hour and a half drive to town so I always take a bag of snacks  - and water. Carrying the bottle upstairs got me to thinking.

Looking at a glass of water it seems so, I don't know, innocuous or plain. And yet we simply cannot live without it. Our bodies need water for survival. Then there are the basics of bathing, cooking, cleaning.

I grew up in town and never had to think about whether there was enough water but when we went to visit relatives in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas I learned that water was precious. We had to guard the water that was in the well and use it judiciously.

Jesus was tired of walking and sat down at a well in Samaria.   A woman came to get water. He asked her for a drink. When she was amazed that this man - this Jewish man - would even speak to her much less ask her to serve him water, he said, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. John 4:10 
She was perplexed and didn't understand and said, Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do you get that living water?  Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. John 4: 7-14

And again in John chapter 7 Jesus says, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
John 7:37-38

Let us never take for granted the water we use in daily life and let us never look askance at the water of life that Jesus offers.