"So," they say, "nobody's perfect!"
But the Vinedresser won't buy that.
Given the opportunity, He will trim the unproductive suckers and shape the branches so each one will bask in Sonlight.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Live Today


      John Steinbeck wrote, “When I face the desolate impossibility of writing 500 pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day's works is all I can permit myself to contemplate.”
      Jesus concluded one of his lessons with this thought: Then do not be anxious for tomorrow. For the morrow will be anxious of itself. Sufficient to each day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:34 LITV) Even John Steinbeck grasped this Biblical truth, applied to writing. It is a truth any faithful disciple must apply to his discipline; a truth pretenders can't grasp.
      On that same theme, James' observation helps define the spirit of Jesus' command: Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16 NAS77)
      How often have I heard wannabe writers and false brethren(yes, and politicians) claim vast achievements yet to come? Dream, plan, execute, but don't presume on God's sovereignty.

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