9-8-23

There was a man with a wooden bucket. One day he went to the creek to get a bucket of water for his cattle. As he walked back he realized that his bucket had a hole in it and all the water had spilled out. Now the bucket was made for carrying water, but the hole made that impossible. So the man found a twig that was just the size of the hole and whittled it into the shape of the hole to use it as a plug. He was then able to carry water again. 

We are like that bucket. As children we just go along doing what God intended children to do. Play, grow, learn. But when we are adults we realize that there is a hole that needs to be filled. Some fill it with alcohol. Some fill it with drugs. Some fill it with shopping. Some fill it with porn. But I can tell you that none of those things sufficiently fills that hole. It’s a “God sized hole” that ONLY God can fill. 

Today, if you have an addiction or have just been filling the void with things that are not leading you TO God, I ask you to take a step back, look at your life and come to Jesus. He is where we find the real joy in life. He can give us joy in the midst of the most difficult things in our lives and he desires us to come to him. Now that’s just here and now. What about heaven? As an amazing extra bonus to the peace he gives us on earth, he also throws in eternity in heaven. I belong to the rewards programs at any store I shop at. I love when the check out person says “You have $5.00 in rewards points, do you want to use them?” SURE! $5.00 for just by “reward”. God’s reward program is WAY better! He is faithful and just. He continues to wait on us to come to him to as he quietly beckons us to come.

God created us for relationship with him. That’s all he has wanted for and with us. Like the father that he is, he is always watching over us and making sure that everything works for the good of those who follow him. 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you, for always being here for us. For being faithful to wait for us when we stray, when we do not spend time with you as we should, when we allow our bucket to get a leak. Please fill that hole in me Lord that only YOU can fill. Amen.

Shirlene Peterson