Daily Thought for Wednesday, September 21st

September 21, 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 Three  “Zits” by Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman

Today’s Application:    Facing the Challenges of Life

“The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.” - John Vance Cheney

Today’s Thought:

“No I’m going to feel weird all day.”  – Jeremy (from ‘Zits’ by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman)

Today’s Quote:

“No one has ever dared to harness the one truly limitless supply of renewable energy,” said Jeremy. “Which is,” inquired Pierce. “Frustrated mothers of teens,” replied Jeremy.  – Jeremy  & Pierce (from ‘Zits’ by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman)

Today’s Question

“If life is a bowl of cherries – What am I doing in the pits?” – Erma Bombeck

Today’s Bible Verses:            Matthew 5:39-45  & Matthew 6:25-34

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.  Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

“Every failure to cope with a life situation must be laid, in the end, to a restriction of consciousness. Wars and temper tantrums are the makeshifts of ignorance; regrets are illuminations come too late.” - Joseph Campbell

‘Zits’ is a comic strip that focuses on the life of a somewhat typical teenage boy named Jeremy: his daily life in coping with an ever changing world:  His interactions with his band mates (who play guitar and drums in a band called ‘Goat Cheese Pizza’ and best friends, Hector and Pierce:  His on again off again girlfriend Sara: and his parents, Walter and Connie, as they try to cope with life in general.  In short this strip is about learning to deal with life as it comes, the constant changes it brings and the many trials and temptations it can present.  Jeremy is basically a descent, responsible teen that makes mistakes but learns to make better choices and even attempts to make efforts to correct some of his bad ones.

This comic strip demonstrates for us that: “Parents learn a lot from their children about coping with life.” - Muriel Spark

And from a spiritual perspective, at least for the purposes of our consideration, this comic strip serves to remind us as Christians that life will change, things won’t always be perfect but with love, understanding and cooperation, and of course with God’s help, we can overcome, make good choices and have a better quality of life, if we will put our faith in the right place and apply our energies to the appropriate endeavors.  For us that would be seeking God, reading His word, praying and making every possible effort to effectively serve Him and do His will.

If you have ever lived with a teenager, I’m sure you can appreciate how challenging life can be.  Have you ever wondered if God doesn’t sometimes think of most of us as His teenagers?  Yet, amazingly He doesn’t give up on us and He is always willing to take us from the messes we get ourselves into and help us get back to what His desires for us are.

Life isn’t going to ever be easy and it will probably only get more challenging the closer to His return that we get, but remember ‘His grace is sufficient to see us through.’

Today’s Prayer:

Father, help me to embrace the challenges of life and to view them as opportunities to allow You so show me just how great you are and how you can do more than I can imagine is possible to get me through it all.