Shining? (01-26-22)– -Lifting Each Other Up!---1 Thessalonians 5:10)
My friend, may I ask you a question? Are hidden treasures even more exciting when the treasure is found, it can be redeemed and used again?
My friend, Life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day.
I'm M. Clifford Brunner.
I've always been interested in treasures. As a boy I used to put a few valuable things together in a plastic bag and insert them in an old shoebox. Then I would find some quiet and hidden spot in the woods and bury my homemade treasure. I would then wait a few weeks until the buried spoil actually had time to become a treasure. Then with my companions we'd draw out a map, find the spot and dig up the treasure. Even though I already owned the spoils, it was gratifying to reclaim them. Somehow they had greater value because they had been "lost" and now they were found.
Finding hidden treasures is still something that I find fascinating; because hidden treasures represent the unknown, the mysterious. But, what is even more exciting is that when the treasure is found, it can be redeemed and used again.
I sometimes feel that is what awaits each of us if only we take the time to search in the hearts of others for those hidden hurts and dashed hopes. Literally, there are scores of hidden treasures just walking around us every day in the lives of those we work with and live with, just waiting for us to discover them with a word of encouragement or hope.
Here's a story: Jean Nidetch, a 214 pound homemaker, desperate to lose weight, went to the New York City Department of Health, where she was given a diet devised by Dr. Norman Jolliffe. Two months later, discouraged about the 50 plus pounds still to go, she invited six overweight friends home to share the diet and talk about how to stay on it. Today, 28 years later, one million members attend 250,000 Weight Watchers meetings in 24 countries every week. Why was Nidetch able to help people take control of their lives? To answer that, she tells a story. When she was a teenager, she used to cross a park where she saw mothers gossiping while the toddlers sat on their swings, with no one to push them. "I'd give them a push," says Nidetch. "And you know what happens when you push a kid on a swing? Pretty soon he's pumping, doing it himself. That's what my role in life is--I'm there to give others a push." (Irene Sax in Newsday.)
Sometimes all it takes is a push, a little shove on our part to make something good happen in someone else's life. Like hidden treasures waiting to be discovered, broken dreams and dashed hopes are just waiting for us dig them out with the spade of encouragement and shovel of hope. And, best of all, when we uncover these lost treasures, we have something to put back in their place, the precious message of hope in Jesus Christ. Why not go treasure hunting today?. Who knows what you might find in someone else's hurting heart.
We pray. Heavenly Father, sometimes all it takes is a push, a little shove on our part to make something good happen in someone else's life. Like hidden treasures Lord waiting to be discovered, broken dreams and dashed hopes are just waiting for us dig them out with the spade of encouragement and shovel of hope. Forgive us when we avoid doing this for our friends and family. When we uncover these lost treasures, we have something to put back in their place, the precious message of hope in You. Help us to go by Your Spirit on a treasure hunt today. Who knows what you might find in someone else's hurting heart. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.
If you have a special prayer request, please send your request to ”This Passing Day!”
<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.