-
The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea isnot full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. All things arefull of labor; Man cannot express it.The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing. That which has been iswhat will be, That which isdone is what will be done, And there isnothing new under the sun.
All things, like the croupier's chant, “Round and round she goes, where she will stop, nobody knows” Beginning with Adam and the LORD's curse in Genesis 3:17bThen to Adam He said, "Because you… have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed isthe ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat ofit All the days of your life.
I remember working with Grandpa Spence, a man filled with the joy of the LORD. Sitting with him in the back of a wagon as we took a break from the apple picking. Grandpa would select one of the primes and carefully slice it with his old jack knife to share.
While we sat there, the stories would unfold of the many ways the LORD's goodness was demonstrated in our lives. Often through the setbacks, like the November day when he lost the entire orchard in a matter of a few hours. (Temperature dropped from the 90s to the teens in a few hours and the trees exploded).
To him, it was an opportunity to demonstrate the joy of the LORD in his life. He replanted the following spring and that orchard became a model for other Iowa orchardists.
His grandsons never forgot these lessons. But one of my very highest priorities is to pass these lessons on to my grandchildren. How am I doing?
Readings
Morning Psalm 42, Noon Psalm 119:145-152, Evening Psalm 94
