Dear Ones,
  Hope you are enjoying this day. It is nice and sunny but cold and I have a feeling we will walk in the underground today. Just had a maple donut and coffee!Emoji Friends are coming to look at our apt complex shortly as they  are interested for the future. This afternoon is Bible Study and haircuts. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Al and I love the quiet and he compares our apt to a monastery as even our T.V. Is not turned on until the evening news. We start our mornings with prayer together and then he goes to his study for time with the Lord and I go to my desk in our bedroom where we each meditate and write. But for sometime we have had competition for our quiet life as our refrigerator has been belting out a great deal of noise….not the usual hum but sounds that made us think it was about to die! We told the maintenance man but we had to catch him while the noise was at its height. He then realized our frig had a problem. Two days later a repair man came and installed a new part and put insulation around it so now the frig purrs instead. It is wonderful music to our ears, rather than the loud groaning sounds and makes life a lot more pleasant.
   I thought of the noise of the world that competes for our quiet time with the Lord. It may start with something small that we desire but is not the will of God, and pretty soon it consumes more of our time and thinking. It becomes hard to focus on the Lord and we can feel divided in our loyalty to Him.  It’s good to nip those things at the onset before it gets a hold. Al would try to move the frig over a few inches or rearrange the food in the freezer but to no avail. Just like the hum of the frig, we live in the world and can’t block out everything, but we don’t have to let it rob us of our peace. We could have experienced tranquility and a calmness before if we would have gotten help sooner. Let us not try to get so close and wrapped up to worldly things and try to serve the Lord at the same time. Jesus said in Matt. 6:24 (ESV), “ No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” When we choose to serve the Lord and to allow Him to be the center of our lives, it makes for peace and quiet rest.
  Challenge for today: Rid yourself of things that take your attention off the Lord.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy