Flowers Don't Last

I love flowers but flowers don't last...  

The flowers in our yard that were planted in April look so tired and worn out.  Today I'm going to pull out my chewed tomato plants and sad looking okra plants.  It's time to get a soil test and plan a fall garden!!

Isaiah 40:8 says...The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.

I used to wonder when my children would get out of the "crying stage".  Well, they did!!  A few minutes later they all moved out!  Our lives, our families, our culture, our friends change quickly.  Thank God for the stability of His word which gives us life, purpose, peace, direction and hope for our future. 

This week our children's Sunday school lesson is about King Josiah.  I love that story and the example that King Josiah set for the people of Judah.  Josiah was having the temple repaired when a worker discovered the book of Law.  They brought the Book of Law to Josiah and he read it.  After reading it he tore his robes (he was grieved), he humbled himself before the Lord and wept in God's presence because he realized the people of Judah and their fathers before them had not been following God's laws and were subject to God's wrath upon them.  Later, before all the people, King Josiah read the book of Law to all the people and then before them he and all the people committed to follow the Lord and His commands with their heart and soul. 

As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their fathers.

2 Chronicles 34: 33b.  

There's so much more to this great story in 2 Kings 22- 23 and 2 Chronicles 34-36!

"The word of God is living and active.  Sharper than a double edged sword, penetrates to dividing soul and spirit and joints and marrow and judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

Hebrews 4:12

I pray that we, our children and our children's children will be like King Josiah who...

RESPECT God's word, LOVE God's word, READ God's word, OBEY God's word, SHARE God's word.

Also, I pray we may be like the Bereans who...

"received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day..."  Acts 17:11