Our Daily Bread

When I donated blood some time ago, a nurse gave me a card to read while a pint of the vital red fluid was flowing out of my vein. The card showed the percentages of people who have the different blood types. Here are some of them:

When I was a boy, my father often traveled to other cities to speak at churches and Bible conferences. Sometimes my mother would accompany him, leaving my brother and me alone for a few days. We enjoyed being independent, but we detested doing the dishes.

The American Hospice Foundation says that bereaved people tend to keep thier grieving a secret in the workplace. Many of us have grown up with the idea that sorrow should be overcome quickly. What often happens is that we deny our pain, bottle it up inside, and try to go it alone. A sign that reads NO GRIEVING ALLOWED might as well be posted on the walls at work.

Flipping a coin, drawing straws, or taking a number out of a hat have long been ways of resolving disputes. I once read of an election in an Oklahoma town where the two leading candidates each received 140 votes. Rather than go through the expense of another election, city officials used a chance method to decide the winner, and everyone accepted the outcome. What the writer of Proverbs said proved to be true: “Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart” (Prov. 18:18).

Bobby was feeling down. He had just been cut from the school basketball team. To make matters worse, his dad had found out that he had stolen some items from a store.

The following story was told by A.W. Tozer: “A simplehearted man was asked how he managed to live in such a state of tranquility even though he was surrounded by adverse circumstances. His reply was profound, yet simple: ‘I have learned to cooperate with the inevitable!’ “

Dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster recently came under attack. According to company president John M. Morse, protesters demanded that a specific word be deleted because it is derogatory and offensive. Morse pointed out that dictionary publishers don’t invent words or decide the meanings that words will have. A dictionary merely lists and defines the words of our language. Society does the inventing and reinventing of words.

I have an appointment with my dentist to have my teeth cleaned and checked. I’m confident that I’ll get a good report on the condition of my teeth and gums because I floss every morning and brush two or three times every day. I have built it into my daily schedule.

David Gelernter suffered permanent injuries when he opened an explosive package sent by the man known as the Unabomber. But he has refused to view himself as a helpless victim or to wallow in self-pity. Gelernter writes, “When you encourage a man to see himself as a victim of anything —crime, poverty, bigotry, bad luck—you are piling bricks on his chest.”

God wants us to make the most of the talents He’s given to us. That’s His will for a student writing a term paper or for an architect designing a soaring skyscraper. But as history rolls on, we also know that the greatest of human work will eventually become dust and ashes.