Hard to believe January has left us and we are now well into our February.

The groundhog didn’t find his shadow here today, which means winter should come to an end early.  We shall see.  As long as we don’t have a quick melt off of our mountain snows I shall be happy.  The snow fall is above normal in almost every place in Oregon, and in some places at least half again of normal.

Reservoirs should be filling up and ground water should also be better than the last couple of years.  It will make it a better spring and harvest for our agriculture friends.

When the rain falls can be a big difference to our people here in the Gorge.  When the rain is good for the cherries, it isn’t so good for the wheat.  The harvest times for both are different, so most of the time they get it when they need it.

But I remember the time a friend of mine, with rain falling outside, set down between a cherry grower and a wheat rancher, turned to the one and said how bad he felt for him because the weather had been bad for his crops, then turned to the other and congratulated him on his good fortune.

Farmers are a unique and optimistic bunch.  They work hard only to find, at times, their entire year can be destroyed overnight.  When it rains after a hot day during cherry harvest, you can actually hear the splitting pops of the cherries – not only is the crop ruined, but the grower has to listen to his fruit destroy itself.

I have great admiration for these people and the way they earn their living, I could never do it.

Psalm 139:23-24  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

²⁴ And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

We often show our hearts to others by the way we respond to them.  How we act in adversity or in privileged times can be a direct reflection of God functioning within us, or our failure to allow Him to work within us.

We know, however, that we cannot really see into the heart of others, they hide many things – some they may not even realize.

But the same holds true for us – we may try to be ‘good’ and holy as God wants us, but our heart is filled with many things that keep Him from using us to the full potential that we have.

We may feel our thoughts are good, but we are influenced by the world around us and sometimes, without even realizing it, we take those thoughts as ours and believe we are just fine – even though they keep us from being holy.

We need to be searched, by God, on a regular basis – sometimes daily, sometimes hourly if we are going through times of tribulations.

It is easy for us to get down on ourselves and become discouraged when we realize that our response to others is not what God wants it to be; or our response to trial doesn’t show our faith in Him.

So we pray this prayer – we allow Him to search our hearts, thoughts and our actions – but do we mean it?

Do we open up to Him as this prayer says, or do we hold back and say, ‘sorry, God’ you can’t go into that corner of my heart?’

To be effective we must open every room and give Him full access so that He can deal with our insecurities and our sins. 

It isn’t easy, it is extremely difficult.  When we are evaluated for our job performance or something that has a direct bearing on our abilities negative comments can sting.  We want to do well, but when someone points out our flaws and where we need correction it can be hard to look at, let alone correct.

And the revelations God gives us during these times can hurt our feelings and cause us to question whether or not we can ever be holy, ever be righteous we are so flawed.

But the prayer ends with and lead me in the way everlasting.

We do not have to self-correct when we learn of our short-comings.  We do have a choice – we can either accept them, get discouraged and fall farther behind, or, we can look to God, asking forgiveness and then asking Him to lead me in the way everlasting.

He wants the latter, and so should we.  Our relationship with God is not always the easiest thing we may do at any given time, but the end result is following Him all the way to Heaven; and in the process being a more effective servant and truly helping others.

Later, Art :-)