A Thought For The Week Of July 2

"But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:7) Back in the 70's the musical group Queen wrote a song that included these lyrics: "I want it all, and I want it now!" In a lot of ways that's the attitude of so many people today. We can't wait for anything and we want everything. The end result is that so many people are never satisfied with their lives. They can never rest and enjoy what they have, because it's never enough. They need to be moving on to the next thing; striving after the next possession. To be satisfied is a sign of weakness. To be content is to start falling behind. There's a lot of unhappy and unsatisfied people because of that - because we can't have it all. That was true from the very beginning. God gave Adam (humanity) everything - except for one tree. The implicit message: "you can't have it all." But Adam wasn't satisfied. Adam wanted it all. Adam (& Eve) were tempted and went after that tree - and the result was disaster. As individuals and as a society we too often want it all and we'll do whatever we need to do to get it. That might be on a personal level as we run over whoever gets in our way on the climb up the ladder, or it might be on a societal level - "who cares about the earth, we want the oil!" God wants us to understand that we can't have it all. We need to learn contentment for ourselves, and direct our attention to helping others in need. If our thoughts are always and only on us, we can't do that. Be content. Look around. Find someone who isn't as well off as you - and they're always around. Then give them a helping hand. You might as well. After all, you can't have it all! Have a great week!