[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Saturday, May 17, 2014

[Paul via Faith-talk]

Hello and good day to you all.  I hope that your Saturday is or was a good one.  You in Australia and Kiwi Country are already in your Lord's Day and I hope that, by God's matchless grace and His providential care, that your fellowship time with God and your fellow congregants will be a good one, if you read this message before you depart to your respective houses of worship.

During one of the free times we had at our multiple district 22 Lions Convention that took place last week in Ocean City MD, one of the ladies brought up an interesting question:  Why does the Christmas Season last so long, and Mother's Day is only one day? Well, I had no answer, but I'm going to extend that particular day to several, as I've got so many great contributions to share with you moms out there.  (Hey, you guys, if you have a living mother, why not pass this article along to them if they have email.  They'll thank you for it and God will bless you for your efforts).

Case in point is the following short article without an author's name, but the title of the contribution is "Simple Gestures Blossom," rendered as follows:

Leah was surprised when our son, Josh, presented her with a single violet in a little clay pot on Mother's Day.  She had decided not to send him to kindergarten with money for the flower sale, since every penny counted in those days.  Josh smiled proudly.  "Happy Mother's Day!"

Leah later learned that a kind teacher had given Josh some change for the gift.  "He was going to spend his milk money on it," the teacher told her.  "I knew you wouldn't want him to do that."

Every morning Leah looked at that little clay pot and smiled.  In June, she and Josh took the single violet outside and planted it in the front yard.  We watered it all summer and missed it in the winter.  Come spring, the little violet returned--this time bringing dozens more.  A year later, those dozens turned into a hundred.

Thirty years later, Josh is a grown man, our finances are secure, and our front yard is filled with violets.  Thousands of them.  They have never spread into the field behind the house or into any of the neighbors' yards.

On spring mornings, I like to look out at that ocean of violets.  All from one little flower in a clay pot, bought for the price of a child's carton of milk.  Two gestures of love, from a child to his mother and a teacher to a child, and still, all these years later the beauty of it remains.  Leah says it's the best Mother's Day present she ever got--a living reminder of what love can do.

And there you have today's contribution by an unknown author which I hope was a blessing to you.

Isn't that the way God works? He took six people, three men and three women, and from them populated the entire earth.  Similarly He took twelve guys and made a force to be reckoned with all these years later:  Christianity and its adherents.  All because He loves us and, as it says in the book of Genesis, He created us "in His own image and likeness" (1:26-27).  By extension, according to Romans 8:29 we are "conformed to the image of His Son." If I understand the word "conformed" correctly, it means to shape us into the image of Jesus.

Anyway there's your Daily Thought article for today.  Before I close, I've one question:  To those of you who received the emails earlier, how did you like the Shabbat service from Knessett Israel Reformed Congregation from Elkins Park PA?

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow we will have our weekly Bible game, so get your thinking caps ready.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul