Given y’all’s response to my post about a thought-provoking conversation I had a few weeks ago, I thought you might be interested in clicking over and taking part in a couple of discussions at other blogs.
Leslie at Into Australia has a great post about whether or not God is in control, and Linda at Middle-Years, a fairly new blog, asks some questions about prayer that are natural off-shoots of your comments here earlier in the week.
Grace and peace, y’all.
Update – 1:11 pm: Lori weighs in with her own questions here – y’all have fun!
I need to go read all of this and get back to you. Thanks for sharing the links!
Oh, I hope you don’t mind but I’ve added your blog to my “Blogs I Read” list. Just wanted you to know. :)
Thanks for the links! Great discussions. Much to ponder.
Seasons of life
Lessons on Life
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn
not to judge
things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn,
to go and look
at a pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the
third in
summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together
to describe
what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full
of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms
that smelled so
sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing
he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe
and drooping
with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.
The man then explained to his sons that they were all right,
because they
had each seen but only on e season in the tree’s life.
He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only
one season,
and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and
love that come
from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the
seasons are up.
If you give up when it’s winter, you will miss the promise of
your spring,
the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.
Moral lessons:
Don’t let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the
rest.
Don’t judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are
sure to come some time or later.
Have you seen the news?
Absolutely LOVED that ‘lessons on life’…I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to send that one out to our whole church! Awesome! Loved reading your blog and your comments by the way. (I’m just starting this whole blogging thing, so I was just checkign out Christian Women on Line..when I came across you!) Good stuff. Amazing how many incredible women are there eh!! Great dropping in on ya!!