Lost then Found

                                                                    

            For months I searched for a misplaced gift. Now packing for a trip, I needed it. Where did I put that new camera card? Maybe I’m wrong. Was it the one gigabyte and I already used it?

            This internal dialogue continued until I quietly asked my granddaughter (they remember such things).  How many gigabytes was that card you and dad gave me at Christmas? Not one gigabyte, but two? Oh no, I lost it!

            In July I pulled out winter coats and picked pockets. I dumped drawers and turned totes inside out. Doomed by the stupidity that it got tossed with Christmas trash, I purchased another. Sometimes we have to admit carelessness. But how painful to accept someone had given a gift I never took out of the box.

            After Thanksgiving I carried Christmas decorations from storage. Imagine my surprise, when sandwiched inside the stocking bag was a two gigabyte card.

            Sadly, some folks celebrated Christmas this year in a similar way. They never found the best gift of all – salvation offered through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  A Savior came to give eternal life in Heaven and life on earth worth living. Salvation is a gift meant to be opened and enjoyed.  

            And speaking of enjoyment, maybe you’ve been like me lately, ungrateful. Sometimes we willingly sacrifice in December, and turn self-centered in January.

            Guess I’ll rummage through a bag of holiday decorations before I store them and see if I can find any more surprises. Here's one written on a teddy bear's tag:  In you, O Lord, do I put my trust…let me never be put to shame or [have my hope in you] disappointed...Psm. 31:1(Amplified)

That’s a Lifeline worth holding on to all year.

1. Have you ever lost something when unwrapping presents? What was it and did you find it?

2. Tell me how someone encouraged you this month.

Sunny in January

Thank God for a day that’s warm and sunny in January. Here in the Northeast we’re in our winter season. I’d like to delete all the cold, windy, dreary days from the calendar. Winter is like the trials we all go through. Wouldn’t you like to skip them too? Like today when I had to see the moving truck in my friend’s driveway. I hate saying good-bye.

            But calendars have winter months and our lives have times of trouble. Whether it’s a job loss or financial setback, a family crisis or sickness, sometimes we’re plunged into darkness. We feel alone, tired, distressed and looking for a way out of the mess. Could I please skip to another season, Lord? I’d love to be basking in the sunshine of good times instead of groping for a rope of hope.

            Then God slips in some summertime – an unexpected check or great job offer, an encouraging note or promise from God’s Word. We appreciate it more because of our need.

            I drove to the park to take advantage of the break between winter storms. Children were swinging and ducks squawking in melted pools of ice.  God tucked a sunny, forty degree day into January to remind us that …

Even in darkness [the winter seasons of life]

 light dawns for the upright,

for the gracious and compassionate

and righteous man. Psalm 112:4 (NIV)

What are your trying times? How about your "sunny" times?