Overload

"Mom! The house on the corner--the one we looked at last year--is for sale again," Charlotte said as she burst through the door. "Can we look at it again, Mom? Can we buy it? It's so cool!" "It's a beautiful house," said Mom. "But it was too expensive when we looked at it before, and I'm sure it still is." She glanced around the room. "This is a beautiful house too. God has provided well for us." "Yes, but the one on the corner is so much bigger!" said Charlotte. "But the only way we could pay for that house would be to live on canned spaghetti and powdered milk," Mom said with a grin. "Does that sound good to you?" Charlotte laughed. "No, but wouldn't it be nice if we were richer and could afford a house like that? Maybe you could work more hours, and I could do odd jobs for people in the neighborhood." Mom frowned. "Do you remember what happened when we tried to make a super-duper buffet lunch last week?" "Yeah." Charlotte groaned. "We had the oven going, and every appliance we owned was plugged in. We blew one fuse after another, so we couldn't get anything done!" "Yes," said Mom. "We ended up with a lot of half-cooked food because we tried to do too much. Can you see how we might learn something from that experience?" "Sure." Charlotte giggled. "We learned we need the big house on the corner because the electric stuff here doesn't work so well!" Mom laughed. "I had a more spiritual lesson in mind. I'm thinking that we could overload ourselves like we overloaded the wiring. More work, more possessions, more debt--filling our lives with more more more can make us lose track of what really matters. It might seem like a bigger house or more stuff will bring us more satisfaction in life, but we need to remember that only Jesus can satisfy the deepest desires of our hearts. He knows our wants as well as our needs, and He promises to fill our lives with the riches of His love and grace, which is worth far more than anything money can buy. Let's trust Him and be thankful for a safe and comfortable home we can afford." -Lorna B. Hickey