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Thoughts for a Woman's Heart |
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encouragement in things that matter |
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Did You Read the Directions?
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Breakfast out on the pier, overlooking the ocean, has a warm and fuzzy feel to it, even with all female friends. We pulled into the parking lot, and knowing we were a little late to meet the rest of our group, I parked, got out, and hurried over to pay for a couple of hours of parking, leaving the others in my car to fend for themselves. It was one of those metal parking attendants, about the size of a small refrigerator. Someone was already vainly attempting to pay for and secure a parking receipt. Frustrated, he gave up and walked over to another rigid attendant on the other side of the lot. I copied his vain attempts at the first machine, and imitated him again on the second, with neither of us yet being successful. By now, one of my friends had come over because she needed a parking receipt for her car. We noticed a phone number barely discernible on the metal box to call in case of a problem. Well, we had a problem, and we called, but no answer. Giving up and getting hungrier, we started to walk out on the pier towards breakfast. A small, and very friendly as we soon discovered, police station was positioned at the start of the pier. Perhaps we should let them know we have a problem. And we did. And two very friendly police officers escorted us back to the metal parking attendant – and to several patrons who were waving their just-purchased parking receipts. How did you ever do that!?! Okay, we could blame our ignorance on the well worn words that seemed to disappear in the morning sunlight, but the truth is, we did not read the directions!
We had a wonderful time of friendship at breakfast and browsing the local shops afterwards, but the parking lot incident kept bouncing around in my head. How often do things go wrong in life because we simply did not read the directions? The New Living Translation of the Bible gives a very pointed interpretation of 2 Timothy 3:16 and17: "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do." Timothy was a young minister in the early church who was being encouraged by Paul. Although God’s Word is much more, Paul presented it to Timothy as a "how-to" manual. Life is full of things that don’t fit, that get broken, that have too many parts to them, or that outwit our common sense. What do we do with those things? God’s Word provides an unsurpassed manual on "how to live." Its Author designed us and the people we relate with, sovereignly oversees all the happenings of our lives, and understands all the dynamics of how best to make it all work together. And He shares His understanding with us through His Word. But now – we must read those directions, and while we’re at it, plan to follow them as well. |
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— Bev |
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