MORNING MANNA        2/25/20

On a cold winter day, a young plumber by the name of Alex was standing in water, down in a hole, covered in mud. I said, “I’m sorry that you have to work in that”. He replied with a big smile, “It’s part of it all”. I was impressed. Not only was I impressed that he was so young and working so hard in bad conditions, I was impressed that he did so with a cheerful attitude. At first I thought it might just be a fleeting thing, but I watched him both days through out the job, and he never changed. In talking with him you could tell he was the real deal.

We Christians could learn a valuable lesson from that young man. Complaining is one of the most common problems known to man. It is a habit that’s hard to break. Thankfully there are some who want to do better. After preaching on this subject recently I was impressed and greatly pleased by the number of folks who expressed appreciation for the message, made encouraging comments, and confessed that complaining is a problem in their life. I have to admit that I also tend to struggle with it. Perhaps you do also.

Alex was looking at his work in the light of the finished product. In other words he was looking at the big picture. That’s what we need to do. If we focus on one small bit of our life it can leave us confused, disappointed, depressed, and fearful. If we isolate one painful event we will draw the wrong conclusion. It’s only as we look at the big picture, especially the final end, that we see things in the proper perspective. Knowing that, for the believer, the best is yet to come helps us get through the worst days of our life. In that glorious day when we stand before our blessed Savior we shall see the benefits of our burdens, profit of our pain, helpfulness of our hardships, treasure of our trials, meaning of our misery, aid of our afflictions, wealth of our woes, and the wisdom of God’s ways. Not one word of complaint will be heard from anyone. – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346