The Dot … Hello Hump Day readers. Our nation, along with the world, is watching the horrible fires in California. The loss of life and property is staggering, and of course, the billions of dollars needed to rebuild. Today, there was a question put out for many of the people in the path of these fires which was “are you going to rebuild?” The answers came slowly, and pretty much a lot of the people said, “we can’t even think about that right now, why would you ask?”

I can imagine saying the same thing, can’t you? The tragedy is still unfolding and our minds are more like ‘blubber than sanity’ one person said. At this moment in their lives, what is the most important thing? I have a lot of readers from California and we have had a lot of back and forth with prayer and how to put their lives back together. Below is an old story that I have used when Al and I were youth leaders. I think it is relevant to these destructive fires and the ‘fires’ we wrangle with in our own lives. Here goes…

A pastor was addressing a men’s bible study group. He took a large piece of paper and made a black dot in the center of it with a permanent pen. Then he held the paper up before the group and asked them what they saw. One person quickly replied, “I see a black mark” and more chimed in with the same thing. So the pastor said, “OK, you are right about that, however, do you see anything other than the dot?” There was a quiet pause; finally the group shook their heads and meekly said “no.” They could see that the pastor was perplexed by their response so he said, “I’m really surprised! Why? Because you have completely overlooked the most important thing of all—the sheet of paper!” There was another pause, and then some laughter, and most of the group felt pretty sheepish.

The pastor laughed and said, “I figured out that it would happen because I have used this application and 95% of the time it comes back just as you all said! So let me tell you why this application is so important for your spiritual lives. In our daily lives, we are often distracted by small, dot-like disappointments; we’re prone to forget the blessings we have from God. Now think about the sheet of paper—that is the image of God—that is the big picture that represents all the good things we are given from God; and they are far more important than the adversities that consume us.

In Matthew 7:11 [Voice], we hear Jesus’ teaching that God is there for us, showering us with good gifts, blessing after blessing…“So if you, who are sinful, know how to give your children good gifts, how much more so does your Father in heaven, who is perfect, know how to give great gifts to His children?” 

Why do we spend way too much time concentrating on the trials of our lives? Jesus loved the little children with the child-like faith without worries and fear. We can learn a lot from those children can’t we? Instead of concentrating on what junk is happening in our lives, we should focus our attention upon God’s blessings—how many times do we miss God’s blessings while we are anxious, fearful, upset and worried?

Here’s a few questions to think on: 1) How might your outlook on life change if you focused more on God’s blessings than on negative experiences? 2) Why not stop and think about all the blessings God has given you—go back in time as much as you can—what happened and how did God change the outcome? Let’s make it a point today to thank God for all he has done in our lives whether it’s a dot or big square of paper! AMEN…