May 20, 2021

Dear Ones,

  Happy weekend to you and may you enjoy some leisure time. This morning I did food prep and made G.F. Choc chip cookies and took a friend shopping. It is so beautiful out my window as I write as the trees are blossoming and changing every day.
Devotions from Judy’s heart

  Possessions can be burdensome and the more we have the more anxiety we have to maintain them. Freedom is not having more but having nothing left to lose because our investment is in the eternal.

  We live in a world today that is consumed with getting more and trying to fill our inner void by buying more goods, only to find it doesn’t satisfy. Even monasteries that hold to poverty want to be comfortable and not have a shortage. Food is meant to sustain our energy levels, not to be gluttonous or become an end in itself. Clothes are to cover up our bodies not to show superior status.

   As I read Father Michael Casey’s chapter on poverty, I wonder how many of us are content and detached from material possessions. How much does it matter to us what we have? Do we have to have the latest or are we content and make the most with what we have?

   Do we treat all people the same or do we show special honor on those who have more wealth?

   God’s ways are so opposite of our culture. If we wish to be first, we must be last. We need not promote ourselves but show humility of spirit. We are all unworthy of what the Lord has for us. All that we see in this world is going to pass away and what is unseen is what will last forever. True riches are those things that are lasting! We are given so much and as it says in Psalm 103:2 (Amplified), “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not (one of) all His benefits.” Benefits are not something we have earned but what the Lord freely gives us.

   When we seek Him and His kingdom first, He showers us with blessings and benefits that last for all eternity. Let us not settle for temporary things but seek those things that last forever.

  Challenge for today: Spend some time thanking the Lord for His benefits that you may have overlooked in the past.