T-Bone Steaks and Vacations at the Beach

Today is another beautiful day.

My wife took me to physical therapy this morning. I am continuing to make good progress.

Friends came by for lunch today and helped us do some gardening work.

For the first time this spring, I ventured beyond our top deck - on crutches - to the back yard to have a better view of the perennial gardens that my wife has been working on for the past few summers.

It was nice to have a change of view. A new perspective.

As I reflect on the day, I am reminded of something that Billy Graham wrote . . .

Suppose someone should offer me a plateful of crumbs after I had eaten a T-bone steak. I would say, "No, thank you. I am already satisfied." Christian, that is the secret—you can be so filled with the things of Christ, so enamored with the things of God that you do not have time for the sinful pleasures of the world.

Even the simple things like being outdoors and enjoying the work of our Creator fills me with the things of God and reminds me of who He is, so that my mind and heart do not have time for the sinful pleasures of the world. Of course, enjoying God's creation is not enough. I need time in God's Word, the Bible. I need time with Him in prayer. I need to sing hymns and songs of praise to Him. All of these things together allow me to focus on God and drown out the call of the world upon my heart.

The world will never stop calling on me, so I must never stop calling upon God and intentionally putting my focus on Him. The world can only offer me crumbs. Why settle for crumbs when I can have a steak?

I am reminded of yet another quote, this one from C. S. Lewis, and I will close with this . . .

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and lust and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to keep on making mud-pie in the slums because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a vacation at the beach.