Filling Life with Good Things

Story of the Day for Monday September 15, 2014

Filling Life with Good Things

He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as one who wants to learn.

Isaiah 50:4

I don’t have a TV, which means, among other things, that I have to sweet-talk friends into letting me watch Packer football games on their TVs.

Some think TV is evil, but it’s not. It broadcasts everything: from the raunchy, to the trivial, to the educational, to the inspiring (and there I go, talking about Packer games again).

After my wife took a sledgehammer to the first ten TVs I bought, I realized I didn’t really need one after all. (She didn’t actually use a sledgehammer, she just took several years teaching me what quiet can do to your soul.)

I still think TVs are a cool invention. My problem is that I don’t have much self-control in this area.

When I wake up, I don’t greet the morning with a glad cry. Instead, I stumble into the kitchen and fumble with the coffeemaker. We heat our house with wood, so I plop in the comfy chair with my coffee cup and stare into the flames.

Now, if I had a TV and a remote control by my side, I have no doubt what would happen next. The TV would blink to life.

“. . .we interrupt to bring you a live broadcast of the school bus accident outside of Wichita. Peter Manning, from our local affiliate, is on the scene. Peter?”

“Sarah, it is chaos here. We have just learned that seven children are dead and many more injured . . . (blah, blah, blah) . . . Back to you Sarah.”

“Thank you, Peter. And now back to our report on the brutal murder outside the mayor’s office in Atlanta. Police are looking for two suspects who . . . (blah, blah, blah)”

“Please stay tuned after the commercial break as Chris brings you a shocking report you won’t want to miss: ‘Is the radon in your basement strong enough to kill all the termites that are eating away the foundation of your home?’”

This is how I used to begin my morning. But then I discovered I could gain the same benefit if I put on a backpack stuffed with three bags of concrete, took a couple slugs of cheap whiskey, and let all the air out of my car tires, to start my day.

Now, I don’t think we need to tell my wife that she was right – it would only go to her head and then she’ll think she’s right about the value of my attending Tupperware™ parties with her.

But she was right.

And, before I sound unbearably sanctimonious, you should know that I do check out the news on the internet later in the day, and I really do like Tupperware™ containers. But I have found that God doesn’t try to shout above the noise I create in my life. He waits until I am ready to listen. And in the quiet of the morning (after a very large cup of coffee), he’s been filling my life with good things.

(copyright 2012 by climbinghigher.org and by Marty Kaarre)

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