Tag: joy

  • Chubby Cheeks

    Life lessons from a chipmunk

    Chipmunk

    This little chipmunk was obviously very used to people feeding him.  Even though I had no food, he had no qualms about approaching me. When he realized I had nothing for him to eat, he moved away,

    A little way down the trail, he came across a pile of sunflower seeds that someone had left for him. He stuffed his cheeks so full that they ballooned out and disappeared back into the woods. It wasn’t long before he was back, repeating the process until all the seeds were gone.

    I tried but couldn’t get a decent shot of his chubby chipmunk cheeks. He resembled something out of a cartoon.

    Chipmunks stash all the food they can find, so they have plenty for autumn when they are preparing to hibernate. I’m sure that they are like squirrels and forget at least some of what they have stashed, which allows the seed to grow in new places.

    While people don’t have chipmunk cheeks, with the exception perhaps of some trumpet players, sometimes our habits resemble theirs.

    We can’t get enough. We lust for the newest, fanciest, fastest, sexiest whiz-bang gizmo, as the old saying goes, “It’s good for everything, and if that isn’t enough, it’s good for nothing too!”

    Advertisers are aware of our tendency to be unsatisfied. Billions are spent every year to cause us to buy more things. They appeal to our vanity, our lust, our loneliness, and more. Buy our product and we promise you will be satisfied, well, at least until we have another one to sell you.

    We all fall for it. Chipmunks do it to survive, we do it out of emptiness and dissatisfaction.

    We spend money we don’t have to buy things to impress people who don’t care. It’s a problem as old as humanity.  We find ourselves trapped in prisons of debt, with stuff we didn’t really want or need, and still hungering for more. 

    It’s a problem as old as fallen humanity.

    Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man. Proverbs 27:20 NIV

    For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1 John 2:16 NIV

    Our true satisfaction can never come from chasing the things of the world.

    You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 NIV

    Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 NIV

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 NIV

    But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 NIV

    Seek fulfillment where it is to be. Find contentment in the Lord.

    Let me close today with a prayer from Paul. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. 

    Kevin

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  • Waterfalls like streams of living water

    Poured out to enjoy and share

    Cascade Falls, Mission BC

    I really enjoy waterfalls. They can be tiny, like one I know on  Stoney Creek (perhaps 18 inches), or tall like Helmcken Falls (467 feet) near Clearwater. They might be narrow enough to step over or very broad, like Dawson Falls (over 150 feet).

    Most of them carve out basins underneath the drop. The constant falling water erodes everything underneath, down into the bedrock in many cases. It’s almost as if the waterfall wants to keep the water for itself. 

    Waterfalls fail in that task. Eventually, the power of the river pushed out through and beyond the basin. The water won’t be thwarted in its goal to move downstream.

    I’m reminded of God’s marvelous grace when I think of waterfalls. He pours rivers of mercy, healing, blessing, joy, peace, and spiritual gifts into the lives of those who believe on Him.

    Like the basin, we try and keep it all to ourselves. We want the blessings to stay in our lives, yet we hesitate to share them with others, so we build floodgates of “me” and “mine” to hold the blessings in. 

    It is as if we’re afraid that if we share the blessings and grace, somehow God’s supply of those marvelous gifts might run dry. We get prideful about the gifts we have been given and think more highly of ourselves than we ought.

    Ironically, when we open the floodgates and let the grace and mercy flow into the lives of those around us, we’re doubly blessed. God not only continues to pour into our lives, but we also see the blessings of others respond to His life-giving and sustaining gift.

    For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. Isaiah 44:3-4 ESV

    Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. John 7:38 ESV

    Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Revelation 22:1 ESV

    Until next time, may you open wide and let the streams of God’s grace and mercy flow through you to bring life to others who are thirsting.

    Kevin

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