Today's Bible verses on here are I Timothy 6:6-8 which say, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."
I find those very fitting. I just finished reading Iowa Farmer Today newspaper and also the Des Moines Register Weekly edition. I read numerous articles that refreshingly gave testimony to those verses. I read a whole bunch of short recollections from seniors who went through the Great Depression. I read about them working for $4 a week and giving their parents their whole paycheck to support the family. I read about a lady who stood in soup lines with her red pail to be filled with soup to take home to feed her family. These were not complaining letters. These were memories of survival and being thankful for having food and clothing even if the food was homegrown and the clothing made from flour sacks. Then I read a letter to the editor where the writer was urging people to quit buying wants and only buy needs to turn around our current economy. I read another story about a woman who raised 4 boys in a two bedroom house, and continues to live in that home in her 90's even though the roof leaked so badly she had to put a shower curtain over the clothes in her closet and drip pails throughout the house. And how community members took up a collection and volunteered their time to put a new tin roof on her house. She was so thankful and relieved she couldn't sleep that night. I read about the homeless men who are being evicted from their one-room shanties and sent to shelters for their own safety and how they want to just be left alone and allowed to enjoy their one room privacy. I read about an 11-yr-old girl who is blind and hoping for a cornea transplant, who is thankful for her one friend who is also blind and who enjoys collecting sounds on her recorder. These two papers were just full of positive stories of being grateful for little things. In this crazy scramble for Christmas sales and days of commercialism, it is good to be content with the basics. When did I last stop to be thankful that I can see or hear? When was I thankful my roof doesn't leak and that I have a roof over my head at all? My cats are better fed than a lot of people in our world. I have food and clothing and a warm house. How can I not be content?
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1 comment:
Hi Linda - I am really enjoying your new blog! There is so much truth in all that was said by the old folks who lived thru the great depression. To be content is such a GREAT and peaceful feeling. People drive themselves crazy wanting more and more and when they don't get it, they get more crazy. I loved the verse too. Being content with what we have (and most of us have a LOT) is a wonderful thing!
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