Last Saturday, a dear lady died. Her name is Hattie McCune.
She is loved by her family and was a long time fixture in the church I am currently serving.
One thing that was clear when you met Hattie Marie was just how simple she kept her life.
There wasn't alot of clutter. She has a flat screen TV, but you could tell she didn't spend alot of time in front of it. There wasn't much "extra" stuff laying around her house. Her family would tell you, she hated "junk drawers".
Everybody has one. A drawer, in the kitchen most likely, that has a lot of 'stuff' crammed in it.
Once in a while you find something useful in it, but most of the time it's just full of 'junk'.
Clutter, mess, a dump. The place where the extra screws and left over tacks go to forever.
That one eyed jack from a deck of cards or a rubber band from an old newspaper.
I decided to look up the word to see about some synonyms for 'junk'.
Instead, I was delightfully surprised that such a simple word had an interesting definition.
She is loved by her family and was a long time fixture in the church I am currently serving.
One thing that was clear when you met Hattie Marie was just how simple she kept her life.
There wasn't alot of clutter. She has a flat screen TV, but you could tell she didn't spend alot of time in front of it. There wasn't much "extra" stuff laying around her house. Her family would tell you, she hated "junk drawers".
Everybody has one. A drawer, in the kitchen most likely, that has a lot of 'stuff' crammed in it.
Once in a while you find something useful in it, but most of the time it's just full of 'junk'.
Clutter, mess, a dump. The place where the extra screws and left over tacks go to forever.
That one eyed jack from a deck of cards or a rubber band from an old newspaper.
I decided to look up the word to see about some synonyms for 'junk'.
Instead, I was delightfully surprised that such a simple word had an interesting definition.
Definition of JUNK
noun
1: pieces of old cable or cordage used especially to make gaskets, mats, swabs, or oakum
4: junk bond
5 a : baseball pitches that break or are off-speed (as curveballs or changeups)
So many things in this life get referred to as 'junk'.
Sometimes, the things of God and church get that despicable title.
But, in defense, they have been around for a long time. Things that have been around for a long time usually get the 'junk' title. They seem to be useless. I guess words like these don't hold the same fervor anymore...
Sometimes, the things of God and church get that despicable title.
But, in defense, they have been around for a long time. Things that have been around for a long time usually get the 'junk' title. They seem to be useless. I guess words like these don't hold the same fervor anymore...
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
If you ask me, this scripture like is the cream pie of the bible.
Hattie Marie knew something about cream pie. Cooking like that came from the heart.
It was so simple and yet it took alot of work.
This psalm is only 6 verses long. It's pretty simple.
And, yet, it took years of persistence and longing to come to this understanding.
David was known as "a man after God's own heart".
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
If you ask me, this scripture like is the cream pie of the bible.
Hattie Marie knew something about cream pie. Cooking like that came from the heart.
It was so simple and yet it took alot of work.
This psalm is only 6 verses long. It's pretty simple.
And, yet, it took years of persistence and longing to come to this understanding.
David was known as "a man after God's own heart".
He knew the sweetness of following the Lord and he knew the hardness & depths of the valley.
But, that word, junk...there was more to it.
But, that word, junk...there was more to it.
Definition of JUNK
transitive verb
: to get rid of (something) because it is worthless, damaged, etc.
I think I was expecting something in the verb area to show up here, but the transitive part threw me. You remember what that means, don't you. Transference. If party one thinks it's junk and party two thinks it's junk then we can transfer that to party three and all can think it's junk.
Kind of feels like society and their feelings about God.
Kind of sounds like many who have fallen away from their upbringings in church.
Even many who apathetically sit in the pews weekly might feel as if this is all for nothing.
There's one person I know who was unswerving in her feelings about these matter was one Hattie McCune. She was always looking forward to that big day. The day her Jesus would take her home.
In her lifetime, she lacked nothing, just like the Psalmist would write.
I've heard about the fellowship and friendship. The board games and the Coca-colas while friends would visit and kids would be in the basement watching TV. Sunday dinners with all the fixings and a cream pie to finish it off. And, as she got older and life got harder, she knew what to expect. As her health began to fail and the body would not always co-operate, she was expecting to go home.
Sometimes the valley is that long time of waiting. She always wondered why she was still here.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Kind of feels like society and their feelings about God.
Kind of sounds like many who have fallen away from their upbringings in church.
Even many who apathetically sit in the pews weekly might feel as if this is all for nothing.
There's one person I know who was unswerving in her feelings about these matter was one Hattie McCune. She was always looking forward to that big day. The day her Jesus would take her home.
In her lifetime, she lacked nothing, just like the Psalmist would write.
I've heard about the fellowship and friendship. The board games and the Coca-colas while friends would visit and kids would be in the basement watching TV. Sunday dinners with all the fixings and a cream pie to finish it off. And, as she got older and life got harder, she knew what to expect. As her health began to fail and the body would not always co-operate, she was expecting to go home.
Sometimes the valley is that long time of waiting. She always wondered why she was still here.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
She always wondered, but she never doubted that the day would eventually come.
He life wasn't filled with junk to distract her. And, the world and this life can really throw alot at us to distract us and get us off track. The darkest valleys leave us wondering why we are going through such hard stuff and why we have to be subjected to such hardships and pain. It's in those times that we can learn the secret that people like the Psalmist and Hattie knew.
"your rod and your staff, they comfort me"
How many of us truly know the blessed peace and comfort of the staff and rod?
How many of us have allowed our lives to become cluttered with the junk of this world?
How many of us long for something simpler and easier?
The desire to pull out the junk drawer, take it over to the trash can and just dump it!
Is there anything in there that actually is of serious worth anyway?
Anything in there that is just junking up our lives?
We are so afraid our kids will be scarred for life if they don't make it to all these activities...
We are so busying meeting deadlines for things that we are simply driving our own selves crazy about...
We don't live within our means, so we work ourselves into a frenzy of worry and doubt and unnecessary debt and overtime to live a life we were never meant to have on our shoulders...
Junk. There is so much clutter in our lives. Emotionally. Mentally. Our souls are in anguish.
What will it take to learn the secret of the Psalmist?
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
He life wasn't filled with junk to distract her. And, the world and this life can really throw alot at us to distract us and get us off track. The darkest valleys leave us wondering why we are going through such hard stuff and why we have to be subjected to such hardships and pain. It's in those times that we can learn the secret that people like the Psalmist and Hattie knew.
"your rod and your staff, they comfort me"
How many of us truly know the blessed peace and comfort of the staff and rod?
How many of us have allowed our lives to become cluttered with the junk of this world?
How many of us long for something simpler and easier?
The desire to pull out the junk drawer, take it over to the trash can and just dump it!
Is there anything in there that actually is of serious worth anyway?
Anything in there that is just junking up our lives?
We are so afraid our kids will be scarred for life if they don't make it to all these activities...
We are so busying meeting deadlines for things that we are simply driving our own selves crazy about...
We don't live within our means, so we work ourselves into a frenzy of worry and doubt and unnecessary debt and overtime to live a life we were never meant to have on our shoulders...
Junk. There is so much clutter in our lives. Emotionally. Mentally. Our souls are in anguish.
What will it take to learn the secret of the Psalmist?
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Not in the next life, but right here and now.
Note the tense in the wording here. It's not written in some future tense.
David isn't sitting here waiting for the next life.
In the presence of his enemies, in darkest valleys of life, in the midst of all the junk going on around him, cluttering up his world, David finds the blessed peace of the Lord and dwells in it.
It is enough to get him through it all.
It was enough to help Hatte McCune get through. She clung to it. A promise she would never forget.
A promise you and I can believe as well.
Note the tense in the wording here. It's not written in some future tense.
David isn't sitting here waiting for the next life.
In the presence of his enemies, in darkest valleys of life, in the midst of all the junk going on around him, cluttering up his world, David finds the blessed peace of the Lord and dwells in it.
It is enough to get him through it all.
It was enough to help Hatte McCune get through. She clung to it. A promise she would never forget.
A promise you and I can believe as well.
