Daily Reading
Daily Thought
Something broke at my parent's house and I needed some tools, so I went to my dad's workbench in the garage. I easily found the hammer, because it was hanging in the same spot it has hung for forty years. One hammer. I thought of my tool chest where there are two identical hammers. In fact, I have two of lots of things, two of too much. There on the wall was my dad's old circular saw, the same old drill, the same old level, I could keep going. It was a pleasant trip of nostalgia, because I had used many of these tools as a teenager.
I buy a lot of backups and upgrades, and my dad doesn't, and his life is better for it. It's not that he is stripped to his mere needs, but his life is free of wants and full of delights, because he delights in what he has. I delight in what is new, and therefore I want what's next and what's different. I want too much because I delight in too little.
The most familiar Psalm begins, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1), and the next line is telling, "He makes me..." (Psalm 23:2). I don't go on my own, but I'm learning to follow my shepherd, and he leads me not to my wants or even my needs, but to his delights. Somehow green pastures and still waters restore my soul. I thought a full life meant having more, but it doesn't. I have two of too many things.
Daily Prayer
Loving God, You promise a life that is full, even overflowing. My life is full of clutter. Let's clean it up. God, teach me to love what You love, to share Your delights, to seek righteousness and goodness and purity and beauty and truth, things of eternity more than things of today.
May I pursue the One that I truly need, the One who fills my heart, the One who created me and leads me in the right direction. I love what You promise, that if I follow You, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. That is what I want!
Amen
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