Pebbles in a stream?

(0510.21 – Problems -James 1:2)

My friend, may I ask you a question? Many problems in life seem daunting when we first look at them. Can it be that sometimes just a simple thing can make them bearable?

My friend, Life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day.

I'm M. Clifford Brunner.

No Name Creek runs just behind our house. It's a small, nondescript little brook, shallow even by brook standards. It's spring-fed so it often dries up during the Dog Days of summer. The little brook is a fairly slow runner as brooks go since the incline between the spring source and the Milwaukee River several miles away is only slight. When we first moved to Beech Springs over two decades ago, we fell in love with the little brook, but were, after a period of time, disappoint- ed that it wasn’t the babbling brook that we could listen to on a warm summer evening as we sat on the deck overlooking the backyard and the little brook beyond. Being shallow with at times shrinking water levels, the water would often become nothing more than a trickle over the moss-covered rocks. As summer moved on and we began to clear the land around the house, we moved tons of limestone that had been placed in old flowerbeds here and there around the property. Not thinking of a better place to put it, we carted it down to No Name Creek and dumped it. It wasn’t long before the lit- tle brook began to sing. Unintentionally, the rocks we dumped had given the brook its needed voice as the spring waters now had something to complain about as they pushed over their new barriers.

Many problems in life are like that. At first they seem daunting, but a simple thing sometimes cut them down to size.

Sometimes what seems like a problem, a load of rocks, for example, turns out to be nothing more than the very solution you were looking for. Here's a story: The 1975 World Series was one of the classic baseball series ever. And, one of the most classic television shots from that Series was when NBC captured Carlton Fisk, jumping up and down, waving his arms, trying to coax his long fly ball to right to stay fair. It did–for a home run. That colorful close-up would have been missed had the cameraman followed the ball with his camera, as was his responsibility. But the cameraman inside the Fenway Park scoreboard had one eye on a rat that was circling him. So instead of focusing the camera on the ball, he left it on Fisk. That little mistake made for a very large profit for NBC in the months and years to come. (Source Unknown.)

If there were no rocks in the brook, it wouldn’t sing. And, if there are no trials in this life we wouldn’t know the joy that these can bring as they draw us closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Problems come and go in this life just as the waters ebb and flow in that little brook, but a life free of trouble is a life like a brook without those blocks of limestone–you’d never hear it sing. Want a life that sings, invite a little trouble today and then listen for the tune. It sounds a bit like: "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know!”

We pray. Heavenly Father, life is full of troubles, troubles that often seem overwhelming, even impossible to put into perspective. Yet, in Your wisdom You often send along other problems to cause even more noise in our lives? Those problems, that new noise, is often the very thing we needed to put our troubles into perspective and find a solution through You to end our troubles. Forgive us when we complain about the noise in our lives, not seeing that it is the very pathway to fixing things. Thanks for the the little problems that often become the solutions of the bigger ones. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.

If you have a special prayer request, please send your request to ”This Passing Day!”

<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.

Pebbles in a stream?

(0510.21 – Problems -James 1:2)

My friend, may I ask you a question? Many problems in life seem daunting when we first look at them. Can it be that sometimes just a simple thing can make them bearable?

My friend, Life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day.

I'm M. Clifford Brunner.

No Name Creek runs just behind our house. It's a small, nondescript little brook, shallow even by brook standards. It's spring-fed so it often dries up during the Dog Days of summer. The little brook is a fairly slow runner as brooks go since the incline between the spring source and the Milwaukee River several miles away is only slight. When we first moved to Beech Springs over two decades ago, we fell in love with the little brook, but were, after a period of time, disappoint- ed that it wasn’t the babbling brook that we could listen to on a warm summer evening as we sat on the deck overlooking the backyard and the little brook beyond. Being shallow with at times shrinking water levels, the water would often become nothing more than a trickle over the moss-covered rocks. As summer moved on and we began to clear the land around the house, we moved tons of limestone that had been placed in old flowerbeds here and there around the property. Not thinking of a better place to put it, we carted it down to No Name Creek and dumped it. It wasn’t long before the lit- tle brook began to sing. Unintentionally, the rocks we dumped had given the brook its needed voice as the spring waters now had something to complain about as they pushed over their new barriers.

Many problems in life are like that. At first they seem daunting, but a simple thing sometimes cut them down to size.

Sometimes what seems like a problem, a load of rocks, for example, turns out to be nothing more than the very solution you were looking for. Here's a story: The 1975 World Series was one of the classic baseball series ever. And, one of the most classic television shots from that Series was when NBC captured Carlton Fisk, jumping up and down, waving his arms, trying to coax his long fly ball to right to stay fair. It did–for a home run. That colorful close-up would have been missed had the cameraman followed the ball with his camera, as was his responsibility. But the cameraman inside the Fenway Park scoreboard had one eye on a rat that was circling him. So instead of focusing the camera on the ball, he left it on Fisk. That little mistake made for a very large profit for NBC in the months and years to come. (Source Unknown.)

If there were no rocks in the brook, it wouldn’t sing. And, if there are no trials in this life we wouldn’t know the joy that these can bring as they draw us closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Problems come and go in this life just as the waters ebb and flow in that little brook, but a life free of trouble is a life like a brook without those blocks of limestone–you’d never hear it sing. Want a life that sings, invite a little trouble today and then listen for the tune. It sounds a bit like: "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know!”

We pray. Heavenly Father, life is full of troubles, troubles that often seem overwhelming, even impossible to put into perspective. Yet, in Your wisdom You often send along other problems to cause even more noise in our lives? Those problems, that new noise, is often the very thing we needed to put our troubles into perspective and find a solution through You to end our troubles. Forgive us when we complain about the noise in our lives, not seeing that it is the very pathway to fixing things. Thanks for the the little problems that often become the solutions of the bigger ones. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.

If you have a special prayer request, please send your request to ”This Passing Day!”

<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.