Spiritual Thoughts

   I t's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen. ~ John Wooden B etther is a little with the respect of the LORD  than great treasure and turmoil with it. ~ Proverbs 15:;16

  Friday Tale - Unlock Your Treasure A  story  is told of the Apaches in the time of the Old West. One day, the Apaches attacked a cavalry unit and captured the army’s safe.  They had never seen a safe before, but they knew it contained a large amount of gold.   But there was one problem.  They had no idea how to open the safe.  They pounded on its knob with stones, whacked at it with their tomahawks, roasted it in a hot fire, soaked it in the river, and even tried blasting it  open with gunpowder, but nothing seemed to work.   Finally, the Apache chief had an idea.  “Throw it off the cliff,” he shouted to his men.  This would surely break open the safe when it hit the rocks hundreds of feet below.  Much to their disappointment, however, it did n ot work.  All that happened was that one of the wheels broke off the safe. Totally frustrated, they gave up and left the treasured safe in the ravine.  Later, membe...

  Friday Tale - True Wealth T here  was a boy, whose family was very wealthy. One day his father took him on a trip to the country, where he aimed to show his son how poor people live.   So they arrived at the farm of a very poor family, as the father thought. They spent there several days. On their return, the father asked his son, “Did you like the trip?”   “ Oh, it was great, dad” – the boy replied.  “ Did you notice how poor people live?” “ Yeah, I did ” - said the boy. The father asked his son to tell him in more details about his impressions from their trip ” .   “ Well, we have only one dog, and they have four of them. In our garden there is a pool, while they have a river that has no end.  We‘ve got expensive lanterns, but they have stars above their heads at night. We have the patio, and they have the whole horizon. We have only a small piece of land, while they have the endless fields. We buy food, but they grow it. We have high fence for pro...

  Friday Tale ~ Shadows or Substance?   W e are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. ~ Psalm 39:6   I n Psalm 39, David ponders the meaning of life in light of his suffering. He considers how short life can be (39:5) and how readily we fill it with emptiness. “We are merely moving shadows” in that “all our busy rushing ends in nothing” (39:6). This verse is similar to Ecclesiastes, which reflects upon the vanity of life. In fact, the word hebel , translated as “vanity” or “emptiness” and used thirty-eight times in Ecclesiastes, is the word for “nothing” in Psalm 39:6.   David points to one prime example of how our busyness leads to vanity. “We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it” (39:6). Though we might intend it for our offspring, we cannot be sure they will be able to use it or even if it will be there for them. It’s hard to think of a more relevant in...

  Friday Tale - Clay Balls   A man man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn’t look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.      He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful precious stone!      Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars’ worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.      Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hi...

  Friday Tale - Acres of Diamonds   T here was a Persian farmer named Ali Hafed who sold his farm and left his family to travel the world in search of wealth. He looked everywhere but he could not find the diamonds he lusted after. Finally, alone and in despair as a homeless pauper, he ended his own life. His search for riches had consumed him.       In the meantime, the man who bought the land from Hafed was grateful for every blade of grass that was now his and lavished love and hard work on his farm. At night, surrounded by his family and eating the fruits of his labor, he was a contented man.       Finally one day he made a remarkable discovery. In the backyard that Ali Hafed had abandoned was a diamond mine – literally an acre of diamonds. The simple farmer became wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.     Here is an extraordinary and wonderful message: withi...

  Friday Tale - Clay Balls or Treasure?   A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.   They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.   He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!   Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls.  Each contained a similar treasure.  He found thousands of dollars’ worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him.   He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the cl...

G ems of truth are found in the Bible- BUT you have to dig for them! ~ Unknown Y es, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. ~ Proverbs 2:3-5