CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Have you ever heard the phrase, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"? I never understood what that meant until today. It is a bible verse from Ecclesiastes. While reading my bible this morning I noticed I had put a question mark behind that verse. This question mark bothered me, so I read the verse over and over, but I still didn't get it. I asked my husband what he thought it meant and he said it's about being thankful for what's already in your hand instead of wishing for more.

I've been doing a lot of wishing for more lately. Maybe God was trying to tell me something. But don't all of us wish for more? What's so terrible about wanting things and dreaming of a better life? As I thought about it I realized that it gets us into trouble because it takes our focus off of what we already have. Instead of being thankful, we feel restless and frustrated by what we don't have. God wants us to have peace and there's no peace in longing for things and wishing for more.

The more we have, the more frustration we have. To maintain a life of luxury, we must work longer hours, spend less time with our children, and omit the things in life that are more meaningful than material things, things like relationships and service to others. We're forced to push these things out to have time for keeping and maintaining our stuff. So we end up too tired to even enjoy the things we're working for.

God must watch the way we run around down here, working for things instead of people. He must shake his head and wonder why we value material things so much, when one strong wind could come and take it all away. And left behind is all the things we shoved aside so we could have the things that were swept away in the wind. I think that's why God sends strong winds. It forces us to focus on what's important. When all the stuff is gone, we see our children and our families. We see the people in our lives instead of the stuff.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I heard that saying many times. Today I realized what it means.