"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." - Matthew 5:14
Two things I love doing, and while one of them cannot be considered a hobby, to me it is like the other, a reason. Firstly, I love washing dishes, but not as much as I love cleaning pots, yes, pots. The other is gardening, not so much for the beauty of it, but letting my hands come in touch with the earth, for it is there I get most of my inspiring thoughts.
When I was young, and being the eldest of 10, the responsibility of the others rested on me. The late Cecil Rose always told people that I was cooking from the age of five, standing on a stool. I remember one night I attended to the last chore before going to bed; I soaked the pot that the rice was cooked in, filling it with water so that the "potcake" would free up, and hid the pot in the oven before saying my prayers and going to bed.
My late father ran a disciplined house, and I knew whenever he came home at night he would check the kitchen to see if everything had been cleaned. On this particular night, how did I know he would look in the oven? I was awakened out of sleep and he taught me a never-to-be forgotten lesson about leaving dirty pots.
But through that childhood experience, later in my life I got a spiritual message, for every time I would wash dishes, particularly a pot, it would remind me that no matter how our lives may be scarred, soiled, burned, beat upon with vengeance with a spoon and, like a pot, many times forgotten that fire was underneath and constant heat bore down upon it, how beautiful, sparkling and usable it again becomes once it is washed.
So are our lives when we allow Jesus to be our "dish washer".
He is able to make us clean and beautiful again. I love gardening and coming into contact with Mother Earth, because it keeps me from losing my head; knowing that I am the earth. It is from whence I came and to where I will return to await his return.
It does not matter what church, organization or political party you attend or support or are a member of. We all as Bahamians must be concerned with the many social ills that plague our country. It is beating us almost to a pulp. Young men with no future, no realization or thought of their purpose in life; young women with no aspirations to become godly mothers with the gift of training their children in the way they should go -- the right way - and adults who have rebelled against a God who brought them from out of the miry clay so that their feet are walking on solid ground.
Jesus in his many sermons on the mount, likened his followers to the "light of the world" and "a city on a hill." My late father would always say, "Light does not make any noise, but performs."
Dear readers, no matter how insignificant some may assume you to be, Jesus, in his word, is telling you that you are most important, for the world is dark and you hold the light. Not only that Bahamians, our country is the city set on a hill that cannot be hid. Whenever one person commits a crime, the world is aware of it because of our strategic position. In Jesus' name, Satan must take up his dangerous weapons, being used by our precious young men, and leave their territory. So help us God!
I believe that many of us only look at this wonderful place on God's earth as islands, rocks and cays scattered over thousands of miles, but the day our blind eyes are opened to the abundance of blessings we have, and how strategic we are in world affairs, we will rise up, let our positive lights shine, and give God ceaseless praise and thanks for our city on the hill of the world.
The Commonwealth of The Bahamas is purposed by the will of God to be a great and righteous nation, but it will take every man, woman, boy and girl to resolve in their mind, heart and soul to be the example for the world.
My constant prayer is that a revival will break out among our people and we will return to the God of our salvation.
We have become so materialistic, self-centered, selfish, greedy, spiteful, boastful, cunning, envious, hateful and malicious, that there is no way we can become the "city on the hill" with the light at its highest point.
Jesus said that unless we become as little children - innocent, kind, caring and sharing - we cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
Today, let us throw away the tools of destruction that are bulldozing our hill, and become builders and architects that will leave in place monuments for generations yet unborn.
o E-mail rubyanndarling@yahoo.com; Facebook Ruby Ann Darling or write to P.O. Box SS 19725 Nassau, Bahamas with your prayer requests, concerns and comments. God's blessings!
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