[i]If thou hast run with the footman, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with the horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trusted, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do it in the swelling of the Jordan?[/i] Jeremiah 12:5

When we sit in the silence of our warm homes and eat our bread in peace;
When we hold our grandchildren in great joy and laugh in the changing of the seasons;
While we feed both our body and our souls without ever so much as a slight thought;
As we travel over lands and seas to gather for some occassion;
As we slap the back of the victor or throw our hands in delight at the performance;
While we search the market for the plenty, and load our wagons with abundance;
Run through the corridors of your heart and ask Him, "Have I trusted you enough in the growing season to bear under the load of winter?"

Can we say with Job, "Blessed be the name of the Lord!.." during times of great anxiety, as well as in times of great prosperity?

Have we asked of God to search our hearts and see if there is any other love within that would hinder the outshining of His love towards a contentious neighbor?

Can we say with the preacher, "Break everything that binds me, except that which binds me to You."?

Have we looked into the faces of hurting souls around this world and turned away, merely thankful for our own concord?

Has our attitude been like that king of old, upon hearing the word of judgment coming upon his people, who spoke:"Is it not good if peace and truth be in my days"?

Have we loosed the bands of wickedness, not simply from our own hearts but from the hearts of those that are oppressed around us?
[i]...undo the heavy burdens and that ye let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke...deal thy bread to the hungry,...and bring the poor that are cast out into thy house,...
draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul;
then shall thy light rise in obscurity
and thy darkness shall be as the noon day,
and the LORD shall guide thee continually,
and satisfy thy soul in drought,
and make fat thy bones,
and thou shalt be like a well watered garden,
and a spring of water,
whose waters fail not...[/i]

Is it not the flowers who grow in the most meager soils, on the top of the rocks, in the higher peaks whose beauty so delicate and fair, and can not be compared to the common garden variety?

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Lori Salyer