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How many familiar faces do we pass by on a daily basis without taking the
time to say hello and share a friendly word of encouragement? One of the
many blessings that surround us is the treasure of people who are filled
with wisdom and knowledge that can really add to our lives. Something I
love to do is sit next to older people who have had great experiences in
life and simply listen to all that they have to say. We are to remember
what the Bible says in Proverbs 13:20 “He that walketh with wise men shall
be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” We are to choose
wisely of the company that we keep and realize that the lives of those
around us can do so much to enrich our own life and make us better than we
were before. (Romans 12:9-21) (James 1:27) (1 John 4:7-13) (Proverbs 4:1-13)
I hope today's message encourages your heart to seek out those whom you
haven't spent time with recently and make a conscious decision that you
will be a blessing and in return be blessed for keeping wise company.
A BURIED TREASURE
She is your neighbor. She lives in that house down the street where the
grass gets a little tall in the summer. The sidewalks remain covered in
snow a little longer than most of the homes in your area. During your early
morning drive you'll see her outside in her housecoat and slippers sweeping
the porch. Even on a warm summer day she wears a heavy sweater.
Every so often you see her walking down the street with her fold-up push
cart heading toward the grocery store. For the most part she is invisible
to the world. She has become a part of the scenery. She goes about her
daily routines asking for nothing from the world. And the world responds
by doing nothing for her.
The truth is she could die tomorrow and you most likely wouldn't even miss
her. “They're selling that old house down the street. You know, where that
old lady lived.”
“I saw a sign at the grocery store. They're having a tag sale. Man, I bet
there's some great old stuff in there. Let's make a point to go Saturday.
We'll get there early for some real bargains.”
By the end of that Saturday, when the last piece of her life has been sold,
she will be but a memory for someone. Her worth to whatever family members
laid claim to her property, will be in dollars and cents. She was just
passing through this life, biding her time.
“How sad,” you say to yourself. How sad indeed. Sad that you never got to
know her.
If you had taken the time to say “hello” one day you would have been
blessed. Perhaps walking the down the street one early summer's eve you
would have seen her sitting on the old oak rocking chair you got at a
bargain price the day they auctioned off her life. That chair was hand made
by her Father. He came to America with the skill of a craftsman and raised
her and her seven siblings with his bare hands. Her Momma sat in that chair
and breast fed every one of them. She made their clothes, baked bread
everyday and tended to a large garden that they depended on for fresh vegetables.
This mysterious old lady was married once for what would have been a
lifetime for most of us. Her husband died years ago, but not before he paid
the last payment on the home you rummaged through on Saturday.
Children? They had seven kids and raised them on hand-me-downs and fresh
garden vegetables. Two died at an early age, one in a car accident when he
was just a teen. The others went on to college and scattered across the
U.S. in search of big dollars, big homes and little respect for who gave
them life and everything they had today.
Except for a few photographs that they split among themselves as tokens of
the “good old days” they each received their portion of the estate and went
on with their lives.
Somewhere in her possessions they found an envelope filled with cash. On it
was written the words, “I couldn't spend your money.” For they would send
her checks to pay someone to cut the grass and shovel the sidewalk.
She did it herself.
She had no living relatives and very few friends to visit her. The ones
still around were tucked away in nursing homes she couldn't get to visit.
Yes, how sad it is that you didn't take the time to say hello. You would
have met an honest to goodness Angel here on earth.
I am guilty, too. You see, I wouldn't have met her either except one day
while driving past her house I blew a tire and pulled by the side of the
road. While struggling with the spare, she came out and offered me a fresh
glass of homemade iced tea. I sat on her steps as she rocked in that chair
and told me a lifetime of stories. She talked so long she apologized for
she rarely got visitors. I assured her that she need not apologize at all.
I was the one who was sorry that I had never stopped by sooner.
“You are an angel,” I told her.
In her sweet, gentle voice she said, “We are each other's angels. We meet
when it is time.” She died the other day and I sat on her front porch and
watched her life fall apart. The neighbors got some real bargains that day.
But I found a treasure.
By Bob Perks
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
1 John 4:20-21 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a
liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love
God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, That he
who loveth God love his brother also.”
Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus declares “Ye are the light of the world. A city that
is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it
under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are
in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Romans 13:10-14 “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is
the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high
time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast
off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us
walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in
chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the
lusts thereof.”
All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.
Today’s Selected Poem: MORE THAN ENOUGH
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem108.htm
Today’s Selected Testimony: HEATHER'S TESTIMONY
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony124.htm
In Christ’s Service,
Dwayne Savaya
Gods Work Ministry |
