How much is enough?
Last night as I laid down to sleep, four words crossed my mind. They were "how much is enough?" Being a mother with three grown children and three grandchildren has made me think about unconditional love. My children have always been loved by their father and me. We were not always together in what we did but we tried to do what was "right" with respect to our children. I love my children although I don't always love what they do. In fact none of the three seem the least bit like me. I have always been in love with my Heavenly Father. Since I was a little girl, I had longed to dwell in His presence. I have not always done what was "right" my first husband and I were divorced after nearly thirty years of marriage. We had grown apart. When the kids were all gone, we found that we had very little in common. I think that there were things that my first husband gave up to marry me that he really missed. He was not happy and I felt responsible. In fact in my usual way I felt like a failure because I could not make him happy and I began to be unhappy myself.
People seem to think that having a child can strengthen a marriage. It can if the marriage is already strong but in most marriages having a child requires a level of self sacrifice that people have trouble giving. When you have a child, your life changes. That child becomes your responsibility and you must provide them with a sense of security, a peaceful existence and the reality that you love them unconditionally.
Our society seems to believe that if you give a child enough things they will be happy. It doesn't work that way. It appears to me that most people who have things, are actually unhappy if they don't have God in their life. What they have is just never quite enough. God gives you a reason for being. Children need to understand how important God is. One well-known individual declared that religion is the opiate of the people. I find religion to be scary myself. I encourage people to have a relationship with God. That is what God desires for us. I don't believe in man's effort to reach God through religion or man's effort to create a god for him or herself. Many have done just that. The god that they have created always agrees with their own particular goals and plans. He is never offended by their callousness, brutality or selfishness. He winks at all of their sins. They never hear the word from Him that that is enough!
The true God is very interested in what we are doing on a daily basis. He is the author of all hope in our lives. We can truly live in squalor and be the happiest people on the planet. I have known such people. A dear lady that I attended church with many, many years ago lived just that way. She lived in a house that had a dirt floor. It was hard to believe in the sixties that someone could be that poor. She was a dynamo in her love for God. She would stand up in church to share how God had blessed her. There wasn't anyone in that building that did not feel the power of a gracious and merciful God when she would speak of Him. She would have the entire place shouting praises to God for His love and goodness. It mattered not to her what she had or didn't have. The only thing that mattered to her was her love for this wonderful Lord that radiated out of her life. Things were just that-things. They had little meaning. She was literally bathed in God's presence.
People like this lady cause us to pause and wonder if we are headed down the wrong path. Her love for God was just as unconditional as his love for her. She was satisfied. The world has taught us to be selfish. We deserve this or that. People need to bend to our rules and our plans. If they don't accept us we will cut them off and punish them in someway. It matters not how they are thinking or if they are thinking at all. Its all about my way and I will say when it is enough.
People seem to think that having a child can strengthen a marriage. It can if the marriage is already strong but in most marriages having a child requires a level of self sacrifice that people have trouble giving. When you have a child, your life changes. That child becomes your responsibility and you must provide them with a sense of security, a peaceful existence and the reality that you love them unconditionally.
Our society seems to believe that if you give a child enough things they will be happy. It doesn't work that way. It appears to me that most people who have things, are actually unhappy if they don't have God in their life. What they have is just never quite enough. God gives you a reason for being. Children need to understand how important God is. One well-known individual declared that religion is the opiate of the people. I find religion to be scary myself. I encourage people to have a relationship with God. That is what God desires for us. I don't believe in man's effort to reach God through religion or man's effort to create a god for him or herself. Many have done just that. The god that they have created always agrees with their own particular goals and plans. He is never offended by their callousness, brutality or selfishness. He winks at all of their sins. They never hear the word from Him that that is enough!
The true God is very interested in what we are doing on a daily basis. He is the author of all hope in our lives. We can truly live in squalor and be the happiest people on the planet. I have known such people. A dear lady that I attended church with many, many years ago lived just that way. She lived in a house that had a dirt floor. It was hard to believe in the sixties that someone could be that poor. She was a dynamo in her love for God. She would stand up in church to share how God had blessed her. There wasn't anyone in that building that did not feel the power of a gracious and merciful God when she would speak of Him. She would have the entire place shouting praises to God for His love and goodness. It mattered not to her what she had or didn't have. The only thing that mattered to her was her love for this wonderful Lord that radiated out of her life. Things were just that-things. They had little meaning. She was literally bathed in God's presence.
People like this lady cause us to pause and wonder if we are headed down the wrong path. Her love for God was just as unconditional as his love for her. She was satisfied. The world has taught us to be selfish. We deserve this or that. People need to bend to our rules and our plans. If they don't accept us we will cut them off and punish them in someway. It matters not how they are thinking or if they are thinking at all. Its all about my way and I will say when it is enough.
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