DAILY DEVOTIONAL ✝️   

Cages and Songs

Did you ever listen to the melody of a canary? Nature has him caged, but he greets each day with a cheerful song. He does not waste time clamoring for a freedom for which he is not fitted. He uses his energies to gladden the hearts of all who hear his joyous notes. Just to see the sun shine through the bars is enough to cause him to send out melodies that speak of a freedom that is within. He makes the best of a bad situation for which he is in no way responsible and teaches us a lesson we need to learn.

“Into each life a little gloom must fall.” We all have our unpleasant experiences, and there is little we can do to evade them. Sorrow, pain and disappointment have a way of coming to all of us. It seems there is nothing we can do to keep such from happening. But we can so order our lives and thoughts that we will have the strength and courage to bear them when they come. Like the canary in its cage, we can make the best of a bad situation and make brighter the hours of those who live in misery. Someone has said, “An occasional draught of happiness needs to be not less sweet because we have to drink it from a battered cup.” We must have our cages. Let us also have our songs.

Some of the best writings in the New Testament came from a cage. It was the lot of Paul to spend many months in a lonely jail cell. He was never placed in jail because of wrong doing. Others were there because of various crimes, but he was there because he believed in and preached a resurrected Lord. He was trying to bring salvation to people who were lost, but they placed him in a cage instead of listening to his message. This was a good opportunity to blame Christ for what happened to him. It was a good opportunity to express feelings about a corrupt government. It was an excellent opportunity to feel sorry for himself, but such thoughts never entered the heart of Paul. While he was thus engaged he wrote some of his best letters which for hundreds of years have led men to Christ and taught us how to live so as to receive the full benefits of a right relationship with God. Like the little bird, he had his cage, but he also had his song. ~Cleon Lyles

THOUGHT  OF THE DAY:🤔 In ancient Egypt cats were considered gods. Modern cats have not forgotten this ....