Thursday, December 3, 2015

Enoch and Enjoyment

Enoch

Today's figure for the Jesse tree is Enoch, the man who walked with God. Of the only two people in the whole Bible, and thus probably in all of humanity, that left this earth without dying, he was the first. And he was young, only 365 years.


What does it mean to walk with God? In the context of the verse, we can understand that Enoch left the earth and went to heaven, but elsewhere in the Bible the phrase is used to mean "to live in communion with God, having a lively sense of His presence, and endeavoring above all things to please Him and to be approved and accepted of Him." (Cruden's Concordance) Enoch was said to be "a just man, and walked with God."

Verses for today:
Genesis 5: 18 - 24
Genesis 6: 9
Leviticus 18: 4
Micah 6: 8
I Thessalonians 4: 1
Psalms 23, 89: 15, and many others

Enjoyment

In something I read today, we were told that to enjoy life we need to have three times as many positive experiences as negative ones. Negative ones just come to us and sometimes there is not much we an do about them, but positive ones are what we make of them or find.  Mention was made of enjoying the aroma of a cup of coffee (not for me, I'll take tea, but we get the idea), doing nice things for others to experience the satisfaction of giving, feeling appreciation for what we have and what others do for us (however imperfect), finding beauty in little things (which the young are not adept at, but which we learn to appreciate as we grow older), and - especially - taking time to do things that we enjoy. Now that I like. That means the making of art and doing crafts and all the things we enjoy doing are vitally important not only to our own well-being, but also to our marriages and families and even communities. Let's do it: draw, craft, decorate, create beauty, have fun.

I got the last garland up and decorated. Positive experience. Michelle, note the bird you gave me last year.

Today's Advent Calendar windows




Count your positive experiences and create more. Enjoy your day!.

2 comments:

  1. "finding beauty in little things (which the young are not adept at"
    Hey! Enjoying the details and letting something as simple as a flower in full Bloom brighten one's day is something I learned from an autobiography, a book of Oma's that I sort of ran off with when I was about 14. I'm sure I still have that book somewhere.

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  2. Well, Dear, the "Young" might need to be qualified or further defined. Those who read usually gain the ability sooner.

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