Grosey's Messages

What would you like to give your children?

What would you like to pass on to your children and grandchildren about what really matters?

Last words are important.

Old Fred was in the hospital and he was near death. The family called their preacher to stand with them. As the preacher stood next to the bed, old Fred's condition appeared to deteriorate and he motioned frantically for something to write on. The pastor lovingly handed him a pen and a piece of paper and old Fred used his last bit of energy to scribble a note and then sadly he died. The preacher thought it best not to look at the note at that time so he placed the note there into his jacket pocket. At the funeral, when the preacher was finished the message, he realised that he was wearing the same jacket that he was wearing when old Fred had died. He said to the people there, "You know old Fred handed me a note just before he died. I have not looked at it yet but knowing Fred I am sure there is a word of inspiration in it for us all." So he opened the note and read these words. "a) You are standing on my oxygen tube …" Now, had that preacher bothered to read Fred's note immediately and then take action the outcome would have been very different.

A modern day poet keenly observes. The poet writes:

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways but narrower viewpoints. We spend more but have less; we buy more but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences but less time. We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgment; more experts but more problems; more medicine but less wellness. We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values; we talk too much, love too seldom and hate too often. We have learned how to make a living but not a life; we have added years to life but not life to years. We have been all the way to the moon and back but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour. We have conquered outer space but not inner space; we have cleaned up the air but polluted the soul. We have split the atom but not our prejudices. We have higher incomes but lower morals. We have become long on quantity but short on quality. These are the times of tall men and short character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace but domestic warfare, more leisure but less fun, more kinds of food but less nutrition. These are days of two incomes but more divorce; of fancier houses but broken homes. It is a time where there is much in the show window and nothing in the stock room."

Joseph favourite son, Jacob lying there as good as done, thought back over his own crucial decisions and how he had been fooled. He had chosen badly, sordid dreams and dusty ambitions. What would Jacob say to his favourite son? What should Jospeh aim at in life? What does Joseph really want out of life?

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

Jacob would have looked back on some of his choices and found the vast majority to have been choices that led to disappointment. It wasn't until late in Jacob's life that He found the Saviour and entered a real relationship with God, and many of his former choices he lived to regret. Jacob;s advise to Joseph from his death bed was:

1. Choose To Pay The Price Of Suffering.

23The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

Don't be a wimp Joseph!

New lands were won by battling tumultuous seas.

Michelangelo’s Creation.. Adam and God, touching pointed finger.. and sorrowful cowering weeping figure, who realizes that the way up is through sufferings.

Eagles nest and eaglets thrust out and down.. but borne up under mothers wings.

Browning.. I don’t want my eyes bandaged.. I want to be brave and see it all.

Jacob: I don’t want my boy to be too soft.

The Lord Jesus Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

2. Choose The Purpose Of Fruitfulness

A dear friend of mine died last week. Bill Richards had been to our girls Grandpa Richards, while we lived way up in Glen innes, 800 kilometres from family and friends. Bill taught me that Life's purose was to help others. I can hear him saying "A kind word.. that's all he needs to hear.. a kind word." Bill was a man brim full of kind words and deeds.

That's what Jacob wanted for Joseph.

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

Running over the wall.. you rememebr growing up with fruit trees around you. Getting ove the fence into the neighbour's yard to pinch a few apples or oranges.

It was even better when the tree grew over near your fence, and the branches hung over. All the fruit you wanted and none of the risk. Good deeds and kind words for others, reaching over the fence into others lives. Going the extra.

Matthew 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:

To a Scotsman: Is your change right sir?” “Yes, but just right!”

Many years ago, Dr Victor Frankl, the highly respected Austrian psychiatrist, published his book called 'Man's Search For Meaning.' The book was completed in 1945 following his period in a concentration camp where he saw his father, mother, brother and wife die or perish in the gas ovens. How could he - every possession lost, every value destroyed, suffering from hunger, cold and brutality, expecting extermination at any moment - how could he find life worth preserving? In his psychiatric practice, he sometimes asked his patients who were overwhelmed with their problems, "Why do you not commit suicide?" From their answers, he determines the approach his therapy will take. Maybe it is love for one's children to cling to; in another person a gift or skill that has never been properly used; for another, lasting memories worth preserving. What Frankl sought to do was weave these slender threads of a broken life into a firm pattern of meaning and responsibility. Frankl is fond of quoting the German existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche - "He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how." In the concentration camp, every circumstance conspires to make the prisoner lose his hold. All the familiar goals in life are snatched away. All you are left with is the ability (and I quote) "to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances."

On December 23rd, 2000 Michael Duffy a journalist with the Daily Telegraph in Sydney, wrote about the prospect of Christmas celebrations. "As a non-believer I find myself envying Christians from time to time … organized religion seems to make life fuller, and at no time more so than now." He noted with some surprise that there is actually a lot of research to suggest that belief in God, especially if it is associated with regular involvement in organized religion, is linked to improved mental and physical health. A lecturer in Community Medicine at Monash University in Melbourne, published some of his findings in the November issue of the Medical Journal of Australia. He noted that - "The decline in organized religion over the past fifty years has been accompanied by a big increase in mental illness, especially depression, youth suicide, stress, violence and substance abuse." You think about that! Fifty years ago, Victor Frankl suggested that in order to find meaning in terrible adversity, you must first adopt a cold detached curiosity concerning your future. Then you need to select strategies to protect the remnants of your life, even if the chances of surviving are slight.

But most of all you need God's strength empowering your life, giving purpose to your life and enabling you to pay the price of life.

# posted by Groseys messages @ 2:44 PM