Up To The Surface

It’s so easy to ask God every day for objects of desire. In fact, it’s easy to only get in touch with God when you want something. “Dear God, please give me a husband.” “Dear God, please get me out of this mess.” “Dear God, please make life better” And while God does answer these, it seems when you go to him to take instead of give, the answer is always “wait” or “later”. You have to learn to give. Give of your heart and soul and energy and even of your possessions until you’d think the supply would run dry but that’s when it comes back overflowing. Beware of doing this just to get something back, though. “Dear God, if I do _______ please give me a ______” or “Dear God, if you save me from _______, I will _______ for you”. Technically, these are bribes. If they are unethical in the business world, how much more ethical can they be in God’s eyes? In fact, beware of prayers that can be classified under “my way or the highway” because they seldom take you anywhere that you can ...

When I was a little girl, I wanted a camping trip. My family either didn’t have time or didn’t have the right resources, so I resorted to camping at home. Many children have to do this, or choose to. They put up their tent in the back yard and use a flashlight to read books. Since we didn’t have a fenced in back yard, my camping trips happened in the vast wide-open living room. For some reason, when I was little, it looked huge to me. It also had carpet which I’d pretend was grass or sand or snow or whatever I wanted it to be. An only child, my closest friends were teddy bears (once a year it was the neighbor girl who was a little younger than I). When it was “that time of year” again to do my annual camping vacation, I’d “pack up” my gear and set off out of my comfortable little bedroom to the “wide outdoors” where I’d set up a sleeping bag and a “camp fire” (flashlights in the middle of a pile of Lincoln Logs) and have a “cookout” (plastic realistic burgers and hot dogs) and feed my...