Thought for the Week

An elderly lady lived in a ramshackle house. She did not seem to care about things. The house was not only untidy but dirty as well. For that matter, she was herself was both untidy and dirty. One day, a little girl brought a beautiful lily that had been part of the Easter decoration at church as a gift for her. The lady was grateful and placed the lily on the middle of her dining room table. She realized the beautiful lily, bright and shining looked out of place on that table. She got out some soap and water and scrubbed the tablecloth and the table as well. Great improvement. But, now the walls and floor were unsightly. So a bucket, more soap and water were necessary and a great improvement was made. Next, she saw the curtains and the windows, more work but again much improvement. Last of all, in that room was the mirror on the wall. As she looked into it and began to polish it with enthusiasm, she noticed a dirty face and scraggly hair. Off to the bathroom for a bath and shampoo. Returning to the dining room and mirror, she was very pleased with the changes she saw. She paused to ponder the improvement. In her pondering, she began to seriously think about other changes, not on the outside but on the inside that needed to be made. If Jesus was to live in her heart, she needed to do some internal housecleaning as well. Perhaps the little girl and the church she had come from could be of help. A resolution was made that the very next Sunday, the lady would get cleaned up again on the outside and go seeking help to get cleaned up on the inside. Bringing a beautiful lily made quite a difference. The lily never said a word. For that matter, the little girl did not say much, but the silent beauty of the lily set the tone for positive change. The kind deed of a little girl, bringing a lily that might otherwise have been thrown away, stirred the heart of the lady to make positive changes in her home and later in her life. I am not proposing that we never speak about changes in a person’s life. But we certainly need to be a living example of purity and beauty. Words of memory from past area-wide-evangelistic crusades: “We need to walk our talk and talk our walk.” In order to be effective, we need to use words of encouragement inviting people to come to Christ and allow Him to make positive changes in our lives. But, we also need to live lives that are worth emulating. To simply tell others may be O.K. but showing them the blessing of what Christ can do for a person who surrenders himself or herself to Christ has a much better chance of success. Being in a dirty room will not have a negative effect on the lily, but hopefully the lily will have a positive effect on the room it is in. At the very least, lilies give off a fragrance to provide positive impact on the room it is in. When Jesus said, “Consider the lilies…” He was opening the window for us to do exactly that, “Consider the lilies…” When you look into a mirror, do you see what the lady first saw? Or do you see what she saw after she had gone to work on herself to make positive improvement? Neither lilies nor mirrors have much to say but we can learn a lot from them. What will you do after you have considered. Please do not simply ignore what can be done to make self-improvement. Let Christ help you improve.

Scriptures to Read

Proverbs 20:11-12

James 1:21-25

St. Matthew 5:16-20

Romans 10:1-10

St. Matthew 6:1-4

St. Matthew 7:7-8

Acts 10:34-43