Do Not Become Short-Sighted

[Why am I always late on Mondays?!!!]

Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. He was so focused on his short-sighted immediate needs that he completely ignored the future blessings that were meant for a first-born son: authority over the family and a double portion of his father's wealth. Esau's foolishness is a good lesson for us to avoid spiritual short-sightedness. We, too, can be tempted to think only of today's needs all at the expense of future blessings.

God created us with the normal appetites for food, sleep, pleasure, and intimacy. We tend to think that if a little something is good, then more would be better and much more would be much better. But the Lord knows that too much of anything is not good for our bodies, minds, and/or spirits. That's why self-control is listed as a spiritual fruit at Galatians 5:22-23. God Himself gives us the strength and wisdom needed to remain within the boundaries He has set for these desires.

But when we are spiritually short-sighted, we ignore the Spirit's promptings and allow our appetites to rule us. As believers, we cannot afford to live our lives according to what feels right or looks right, because focusing on instant gratification will give us only temporary fulfillment. Lasting contentment is the result of pleasing our God instead of ourselves.

We can probably think of at least one temptation that Satan tells us is absolutely necessary or deserved. Watch out ... that's our bowl of "red stew!" Neglect of our spiritual well being and loss of future blessings are not worth getting a taste of that temptation. We must keep on resisting, because that bowl of stew will never compare with our birthrights as children of God.

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Well, our dinner with Leo turned out to be great! There were only a couple times that silence enveloped us. The rest of the time we were able to keep the conversation going. I had spent the day finishing my housework and baking the pie, frying the bacon bits, preparing the bread, and tossing the salad. Michael would make the spaghetti when it was time. I wanted to have all my parts of the dinner done so I could devote myself to Leo and not be running in and out of the kitchen while he was here.

I left early to pick him up and he was standing outside waiting for me. I went inside and met the staff and the rest of the residents. You can tell they don't have many visitors. I gave out a lot of hugs and handshakes. On the way home I told him we were just a poor couple so not to expect a lot in the way of appearances, that all my furniture is cat damaged. He didn't seem to care. I gave him a root beer and we sat and visited. I found out that he's 55 years old and originally came up from Stockton back in 1995. He has worked at the store all these years. He really does have a good memory and a great big heart. He has been a Christian his entire life.

Dinner was outstanding! The best sauce I think Michael has ever made. When I went to the store to buy the bread for dinner I happened to think to buy a few links of sweet Italian sausage to go with the ground beef in the sauce and we think that's what made the sauce so great. Leo ate well and had seconds on most things. We had our pie and sat at the table visiting. I put the dishes in the sink and cleared off the table and then Leo tore into his Christmas present. Then we moved back into the living room and visited for another half hour or so. Then it was time to take him home. The three of us had a great time. I was so pleased that everything turned out as well as it did. Leo said he'd like to go shopping at WalMart with us sometime so maybe this spring we can arrange to take him with us. My driver's license and insurance information is on file now at his residential care facility so we're all set to take him places.

Tomorrow night is Christmas at my son's house across town. That will be fun. We're having it so early because of trying to fit it around everyone's schedules. It will be good to see my son again. It's been awhile. That's the problem with living so close; it seems that we rarely see each other. We saw each other a lot more often when we lived about 16 miles apart. (Of course that was back when I was babysitting the grandkids.) He's having not-so-pleasant things going on at his work so I haven't wanted to bother him while he's taking care of that business but it seems there's always some reason that we don't make contact. He is my son and he's still the light of my life. Funny how no matter how old my son gets, he is still the light of my life.

[I'm inserting this on an edit. Ken just came over and spent a little time with us. I gave him an extra big hug and it really felt good. He's not little anymore but he's still my baby, I don't care if he is in his 40s!]

It started raining sometime during the night and it's still raining lightly. We're supposed to have a very rainy week with rain every day except Thursday I think. We need it! I hope we get enough rain to make a difference in the fear of another drought. Tomorrow is forecast to have the heaviest amounts of precipitation.

My card ministry is really booming but I need to get the addresses of quite a few people and I'm not sure how to do that. As far as I know I have copies of the latest list the church has. I guess some people don't fill out their addresses when they sign the Friendship pad on Sundays. I will need to ask Pastor to emphasize how important that is. We really do need that information so we can notify them of something should the need arise. We had 34 absences for November and 13 of them had no addresses so we really need to advertise the purpose of the friendship pad. I know pastor uses it to send greetings to visitors. This month Margaret needed them too for her shut-in ministry. If they make it out to church, they aren't really a shut-in. She was to send them all a Christmas card and deliver small poinsettias to those who are in rest homes. We (the deacons) are really making an effort to make our congregation a family that cares when people are not at church for whatever reason. Jesus said people would know His family by their love for one another. And we are convinced it starts with us doing our part. And everyone enjoys getting a friendly card in the mail. Seems like the only thing in people's mail boxes anymore are just bills, nothing personal, you know? We want very much to be a "personal" church.

Well, I better get this sent out so it will be out before noon. Hope I get an earlier start tomorrow. We both just slept in this morning. Shame on us!! Right? Well, you don't know it until you try it. It feels really good. But we don't get a lot done on days we do that. Of course, we don't have any reason to do anything today and it being rainy and all just hanging out at our own place and pace seems good. I plan to go out to the post office and by the store for some hot dog buns and that's the extent of my plans for the entire day. Can't believe Christmas is only a week away. Glad I got all my shopping done and my cards out early. So nice not having to hurry, hurry, hurry to get everything done. One year I didn't get around to my Christmas cards until Christmas eve. This year has been so pleasant because of not trying to do the shopping on a WalMart visit. This year there were no crowds or hassles. I just took my time shopping in quiet out-of-the-way stores and made use of mail-order companies. I wish S&H wasn't so high though, that's a real bummer. Well, until tomorrow ...