Don't Just Drop the Cookie!

Are you familiar with the saying, "His [God's] ways are not our ways?" As I read Bible passages, say for example the part about Gideon charging the city with a pot on his arm...or Jesus picking out a bunch of sailor/fishermen to be His disciples...(you know how they talk!) ...I think, "Wow, God, I wouldn't have done it that way." But, His way is perfect! We just can't see the wisdom of it sometimes (so what is it about "the last shall be first" anyway? Does that make sense? ) Yes, indeed, sometimes His ways are very mysterious to us. This came to my mind this morning while I was working in the kitchen with Musical. We were clearing the counter of remnants of last night's cookie making. (Don't you love those chocolate no bake cookies?) She found a half-eaten cookie then mentioned that she'd like to give it to the cats. I told her that was fine (Do cats even *like* chocolate cookies?)...anyway, then she said, "First I have to drop it on the floor..." which she did as she said it. I was aggravated. "Musical! Why did you do that?" I fussed. She was not to be discouraged; as she bent to pick up the cookie, she said, "Mommy, you always say we can only give the cats food that's been dropped on the floor!" She happily ran out to indulge the cats. I had to grin. She had me. I had no idea that she misunderstood the *reason* we give the cats only *dropped* people food. It made me think about our running around, doing good "for God." Does He really *need* our help? I believe He *allows* us to be part of His work. I believe He *wants* us to serve our brothers and sisters...but He doesn't *need* us. We also need to remember that when we serve others in His name, He doesn't love us any more than when we, say, sit around eating chocolate cookies. :-) It is *good* for us to serve. It's not particularly *good* for us to eat chocolate cookies . But, His love for us isn't dependent on our performance. (Of course, He disciplines us, but that's a topic for another day...) That doesn't really make sense to us--on the job, if you perform better, the boss likes you better, right? You get paid more, right? But our Lord loves us because we're His. No matter what we do. We can't earn His love. It might not make sense to us, but His ways are mysterious. Like our rule of "cats get only dropped food." What a mysterious rule! Let's remember: We're not dropping the cookie so that the cats will like it better and we're not serving the Lord so that He will like us better. :-)
Gotta go...y'all keep your wool dry.
The Ewe

Quote of the day: "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming....what do we do? We swim, swim..."