Wednesday, May 17, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
River of life flowing out of me
When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.
As we get older as a couple, we kind of discover one day that our favorite date is to go shopping, especially for food.
But then we discover that those little guys who love to eat more than anything else in the world, they like those dates too. Jasper took one trip to TJ Maxx and is constantly whispering in my ear, “Can we go to Maxx, Grandpa? Can we go to the toy aisle?” His eyes sparkle. How can I resist?
And there is HEB, where he wants as many Bonus Bucks as he can get from the checker, so he can push them into the electric slit and watch them disappear. Then a pretty big electronic wheel start to spin. A light blinks, “Push me, push me!” So he does, and the wheel spins, slows down, and lands on a number. Sound familiar?
Once it stopped on “INSTANT WINNER!” We took our ticket to the service desk and the guy there poured all kinds of stuff into Miles’ and Jasper’s hands. He was happy for them. Sounds way too addictive, I guess, but we do it anyway. Once in a while.
Monday we drove a little farther, to Fiesta Mart. Lots of produce, meat and fish, lots of bright, decorated candy, long aisles. H-Mart is Korean, Fiesta is Hispanic. Both are lots of fun. Jasper got to pick one thing, which finally turned out to be a marshmallow-pop covered in chocolate on a long white stick. We also found frozen whole tilapia for 1.47 per pound if you buy a pack of five or more.
Austin makes food adventures easier, at least until you get the adventure home. For this one, we had an hour before our friend George came home for lunch. Not long enough, but he loves the adventure as much as we do, so he scaled the fish and cut parsley and rosemary off Margaret’s patio herb garden, while I mixed mustard and cider vinegar to cover the tilapia skin. We baked the fish for 20 minutes and made a feast. So sweet, so simple.
The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. He made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him,; though indeed he is not far from any one of us.
Meal prep, of course, is a big part of what moms do, and I’ve been thinking about moms all week, especially those who manage to stay at home. Adding up all the responsibilities, their annual salaries would be edging up to $200,000. And much of their work is done “anonymously.” No one except the kids gets to see them sweat.
Well, God gets to see. He spends as much time with Andi and Margaret and all their mom friends as he did with Paul in the Areopagus. Plato and Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas have nothing on those moms, except maybe bigger words, or bigger heads. Moms do the dirty work.
Jasper only ate half his marshmallow pop. “It’s too sugary,” he said.
I saved the rest of it for today. Didn’t say anything to mom, though. She might have a different idea.
(Acts 17, Psalm 148, John 14, John 16)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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