Morning Devotional

August 27, 2003

"Carter's Baby Clothes"  

by Don Emmitte

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Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:33-34 NLT).

Many of you know that Mary and I are going to be grandparents soon. Kyle and Brandy are expecting twins in January. Needless to say we have been very excited as we wait for them to arrive. Mary has taken it as a personal challenge to clothe the twins for their first year, before they even make their appearance! Kyle has had to construct extra closet rods for the outfits she has acquired! 

Just last weekend we were out with David helping him get some new clothes for work and Mary could not resist a detour through “Baby Gap.” I did remind here that they didn’t have David’s sizes in that section of the store, but to no avail. As we oohed and aahed through the cute little clothes, she said, “Carter makes some of the best baby clothes.” I do remember somewhere from my past some of their ads. Seems like their promotional line was "If they could only stay little 'til their Carter's wear out." And that made me think of today’s reading. The truth is that if we could only grasp the beauty of our lives and enjoy every minute we would all be better for it.

The first weeks of September bring in the fairs and carnivals of fall. There’s a traveling carnival that comes to our town each year and opens for a few days on our trade days’ grounds. They have several rides to offer, one of which is a very large Ferris wheel. The children line up to ride this attraction. Their gleeful laughter can be heard above the din of carnival music and shouting barkers. It is quite a sight. Round and round they go on an extended ride as the Ferris wheel guy forgets time while chatting with a friend. The children laugh and enjoy each other. We all want to hold them there, frozen in time on the Ferris wheel, forever going round and never growing another minute older. But the Ferris wheel stops, as it should, and they get off and we go on, because that is the way life is. If time really did stand still as we sometimes wish it would, well we wouldn't want that either. 

When we find ourselves in the middle of a pleasant experience it is easy to wish for it to last forever. It is only our fear of the unknown and what might happen that keeps us frozen in the present. In fact, that fear of tomorrow robs us of the fullness of the present moment. Life is full of good and bad experiences. Through all of them the one constant is our heavenly Father’s love for us. He has prepared our future for us. It will be good. Enjoy the pleasant experiences of the present. Persevere through the difficult experiences of the present. And, know that God will take care of you in every way!