and he adds no sorrow with it.”
Thousands of Americans are losing their homes because of the shaky economy and ill-advised loans. Where many of us thought that our livelihoods would continue status quo, companies are downsizing (and laying off workers), the work that is there is diminishing, gas prices are going up. There’s simply no way to make it all stretch.
I was talking to a lady from poodle rescue yesterday. She was telling me that the requests to surrender poodles (who require monthly grooming) have risen to the point that the organizations cannot meet them. There aren’t enough doggy foster homes, not enough resources.
As a country, I feel that we have turned our eyes away from the blessings of the Lord and created our own “blessings” in the nature of financial prosperity . . . that those “blessings” have a price with them, a price that can bring sorrow.
Like many of us, I watch television. (Probably should turn the thing off, but my husband likes his sports. No reason why I can’t ignore it and I probably should.) One kind of show I enjoy are the “home” shows: decorating your house inside and out, looking at the design trends, etc. It amazes me that television shows—rather than we the people—determine what should be inside our homes. No longer is it okay to have a home that is clean and in good repair to sell. We must reconfigure, redecorate, redesign if someone else is to want to buy it. And why? Because we are being programmed that way through TV. Television producers and real estate professionals have decided that our homes aren’t good enough and that we must spend more money to make them somehow more appealing.
I think about this proverb: “The blessing of the Lord makes rich.” Any way that you emphasize it, it sounds good because it’s so true! It’s not money or possessions or status or fame or job that makes us rich. It’s the blessing of the Lord. And how many blessings we already have!
One morning, several years ago, when studying I was impressed to begin to count my blessings. Oh, I know how cliche that sounds. Like the old hymn: “Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done.” But the fact is, how we look at life—whether or not the glass is half empty or half full—probably has much more to do with the state of our affairs (whether we are rich or poor) than how we look at our bank account. And Father God promises that the blessings He gives have no sorrow in them! Now that’s a promise I can grab hold of!
© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).
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