Daily Thought for Tuesday, September 27th

September 27, 2011

The Funnies – A Series

A Look At The Sunday Comics

And How They Might Be Applied To Our Spiritual Lives

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;”

1 Corinthians 1:27

“People only see what they are prepared to see.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Comic Seven   “Blondie” by Dean Young & John Marshall

Today’s Application:    Flexibility and Patience Enable Us 

“Be firm on principle but flexible on method.” – Zig Ziglar

Today’s Thought:

“Don’t panic, Dagwood.  You’re a strong, independent, intelligent man.  You know just what to do in a crisis!  ------   Blondieeeeeee! ”  – Dagwood speaking to himself (from ‘Blondie’ by Dean Young & John Marshall)

Today’s Quote:

“I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.”  – Everett Dirksen

Today’s Question

“Does this kind of stuff ever happen to you?” – Dagwood (from ‘Blondie’ by Dean Young & John Marshall)

Today’s Bible Verses:            James 4:13-17, Galatians 5:22-23 & 2 Peter 1:2-8

Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible to your approach."  –  Tom Robbins

(Dagwood in the fridge looking for sandwich fixings)

“Let’s see now; knockworst, marinated mackerel, marshmellow whip and a sour pickle; not that oughta do it.” – Dagwood (from ‘Blondie’ by Dean Young & John Marshall)

Dagwood Bumstead is the likable husband to Blondie and father of Alexander and Cookie in the “Blondie” comic strip.  Surprisingly he is the main character and most of the story lines revolve around his interactions with his family, the mailman, Mr. Beasley his neighbors Herb and Tootsie Woodley and his rather obnoxious boss, Mr. Julius Caesar Dithers and his wife. Cora.

It seems Dagwood’s plight in life is that regardless of his plans or efforts there always seems to be someone or something to interrupt, usurp or interfere.  Whether it’s time n the bathtub, eating a sandwich or some other task of life, Dagwood demonstrates illustriously that the  ‘best laid plans of mice and men’ do not always work out.  Yet he seems to manage a very great propensity for being flexible, even if it does require Blondie’s assistance.

The spiritual moral of this comic strip for us is simply this:  It is good to plan, for we must remember; “Where there is no vision, the people perish:” – The Bible (Proverbs 29:18):  but we must be patient and flexible with our plans, allowing God’s will and His plans to have place over ours.

Often God has a different way of accomplishing things than we do, and His way is always better.

And there are other times when God wants us to do something completely different than what we might be focused on – so we need to be open to that too.

What we learn from the comic strip, “Blondie” is that things will work out for the best if we learn to accept things as they come and be adaptable.

Keep in mind:  “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” – The Bible (Romans 8:28)

And in order to walk according to His purpose we must remain patient and be willing to be flexible.

‘Blessed are the flexible for they shall accomplish the work of God.’

Today’s Prayer:

Father, regardless of where I am going or what I may be doing, help me to have patience and always be flexible:  open to anything you want to change and always willing to be led by your Spirit.