See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1
Some things were just better in the old days…like the weather report. Back when the local weather was sponsored by one of the local oil brands and the weatherman wore a service station (that is a gas place where they pumped your gas, checked your oil and cleaned your windshield) uniform, things were so much simpler. He would get his magic marker out and draw some symbols on his paper map and forecast the weather. It was easy. If it was going to be hot…he would say it was going to be hot. If it was going to be cold…he would say it was going to be cold. If it was going to rain…he just laid it out in simple terms. Yup…those were the days.
It kinda reminds me of my visit to a gift shop in the Smokey Mountains. They had what they called a “Hillbilly Weather Station.” It was a rock attached to a string. It also had a card that went with it that said if the rock was hot, it was hot. If the rock was cold, it was cold. If the rock is wet, it was raining and finally, if the rock was swinging on the string, it was windy. My simple sense of humor likes that even now. But today, they have to give us a lot more information and most the time I am grateful, except for this.
This is this. Instead of simply saying it is going to be hot they must go a step further and give us what they call the “feel like temperature.” In other words, if the temperature is going to be 90 degrees and there happens to be a bunch of humidity in the air, well, they let us know it is going to feel like 100 degrees and we are going to be extra miserable. And, if it is cold and there is a wind, well, just to make sure we know how miserable we really are, we have wind chill. Now I know their intent is good, but I just wish they wouldn’t go the extra mile in defining and describing my misery.
If that isn’t enough, the news folks seem to feel like they must top the weather folks. They scrap up every bit of bad, discouraging, and disgusting news they can find and then read it to us with passion and glee. It is almost like they want to say, “You only thought things were bad…just listen to this”. And “this” is always about the awfulness of our broken world. Yup, I think the weather and news people are in cahoots with one another to make sure we are miserable.
Well, if that isn’t enough, then there are some folks that we bump into in our world and it seems they just can’t wait to slosh their negativity on someone else. Like Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh stories, theirs is a “woe is me” world. Eeyore once said, “I wish I could say yes…but I can’t.” Well, the truth is we can. In a world where some choices are limited, the choice of how we act and think is all ours. We get to choose to be what stories our “newscast” is going to cast and what report our “weather reporter” is going to report.
One of the reasons I love God is that He is a positive thinker. His book, the Bible, is a reality check but it is also a book of good news. In fact, when describing the story of how much God loves us and how He sent His son into this broken world to pay the price for our sin…it is called “the” Good News or Gospel. And if you allow that Good News to be your good news—well it changes everything. So, if you need a change, if you need some Good News, why not try the Bible. It will tell you the truth, but that truth includes God’s incredible love for me and for you.
In a part of the Bible called the New Testament, John, one of Jesus’ closest followers wrote, “See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!” Wow…the God who made it all loves us enough to call us His own. Now that is worth hearing about and the place to go to hear it is His Word. So, when you are feeling down and things look hopeless, why not look up…to the God who wants to be your Dearest Daddy. Imagine a world of Good News…with Someone who is waiting to whisper to you, “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 