This is a repost from 2012. That’s 10 years ago! How much has changed! Has life gotten easier? No! But I needed to hear this message again. It was very helpful. (Nothing like writing your own comments! 🙂 ) I can say this because the message is from the Lord, I’m only the clay pot! Aren’t you glad that Jesus never changes?
Even though the sun is now shining brightly, this morning as I was driving Tilly (and she was driving me crazy), the black clouds were rolling in. Soon the drops came, just enough to make me want to quit. Frustrated to the max, I thought of all those people who owned Troybilt Tillers. Why couldn’t I have one of those? Why do I always have to work with junk? I could have been done an hour ago!
Now, I know that Tilly is an inanimate object, but I think she was reading my mind again! Whatever the reason, all of a sudden, Tilly came alive! She finally found high gear and we were speeding around the garden kicking up dirt like crazy! You would have thought she was brand new! I wondered if this was the last life spurt before death, but not true. She chewed up that dirt, bounced happily over the rocks, and finished the job! AND all before the heavens truly burst forth.
Lesson One: What if I had quit? How often do we quit too soon? We only know the half of it! I wonder how many times God looks at our lives, knowing the outcome if only we would have stayed faithful! Had I given in to my discouragement, I would look out every day at a half-finished garden and wonder if I should just forget it. It would be a constant source of discouragement! Life can be that way. We see our failures, are constantly reminded of life’s disappointments, and are tempted to throw in the towel when all the time God is urging us NOT TO QUIT!
Lesson Two: Thou Shalt Not Covet. This last commandment is probably the one I struggle with the most. As a pastor’s wife, I have never lived in my own home. It’s a struggle when you have wishes and dreams that you cannot do because it isn’t your house. Satan LOVES to tempt me into this sin! But you know, this fall when I am walking out to the garden to pluck a juicy home-grown tomato, it won’t matter that I had to till the garden with a run-down, tired, second-hand tiller. ( AND: You can be RICH in character thanks to all your junk! – quote from Eight Dollar Teapot). The tomato will taste just as good! As we face a small building project at church, one man reminded us that he saw God move in a mighty way when they only had a one-room sanctuary and outhouses!!! This project would be easier if we just hired it done, but it costs too much. Is it possible that God wants to accomplish more than just new walls and bathrooms? Is He looking for us to build relationships by working together as a church to do the work? As my husband often says, it’s all about people!
Lesson Three: I wonder if God gets tired of working with “junk?” Sometimes, I feel worthless and as unworkable, useless, unplayable, undetermined, and uncooperative as Tilly! And yet, that is not the way God sees us. He says that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”(Psalm 139:14). God’s patience with me puts me to shame!
But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Amen! I’m glad that verse applies to us all!
Acts 20:24
Beyond Common Sense 