Consider Your Ways!

From today’s reading…

Today we read from the opening of the Book of Haggai, which is only two chapters, and I gotta admit, I had to Google him. 

While he is considered one of the 12 minor prophets of the Old Testament, he remains a prophet who was sent to deliver the Word of God, which we are still reading 2,500 years later.

He opens with great detail in regards to the timing of his message:

When one gives specifics like this they are clearly trying to bamboozle you with hype…or they are telling the truth.

You can look up the people Haggai names, which gives credence to the message he repeats on behalf of God,  

I know growing up, it was never a good thing when my parents said: “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Haggai was reminding his people that God needed His temple rebuilt, not for His sake, but for ours.

It’s human nature to value that which is precious, and that which is precious is that which was difficult to acquire or obtain.

Building a temple worthy of God takes vast sacrifices of time, talent, and treasure of a vast number of people.

It’s not built to brag but to narrow our focus. To center it. To clear it.

The world has always been too noisy, too loud, too busy, too filled with evil, too lacking in love, kindness, and patience.

When you sit quietly and reverently in the house of the Lord, all becomes right in your world, at least for that moment in time.

And the more people we can get to spend more than just a moment of time in calm, peace, and tranquility, in a place bigger, grander, and holier than you, the easier it will be for all of us to…

Stay the course. Keep the faith. Endure.