This proverb is like a musical earworm. It stuck in my mind when Cathy and I were newly married. Now 43 years later it remains a reliable guide. Like all young couples starting out money matters loomed large. Then we navigated the financial challenges of launching our children in their new families. At each stage there were opportunities for discontent.

I don’t know about you, but I love gardening. I enjoy all aspects of it, working the soil, planting, weeding, watering and harvesting. I especially enjoy seeing and tasting the fruit of my labour, whether it’s viewing a beautiful flowerbed, or tasting a fresh garden carrot.

Today I had a delicious and nutritious vegetable soup for lunch.

There’s an old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” That saying quite accurately reflects my assessment of today’s scripture reading.

Isaiah looks at his world – his city Jerusalem – and points out its faults. He sees a society of great disparity with wealth flowing to those in grand houses, while others are left without.

Sometimes the Bible seems too relevant – almost frighteningly so.

Last evening on our local news channel I learned that an Ottawa-based business had been awarded financing on CBC’s Dragon’s Den for their flavored drink mix. This morning the opening line of our scripture reading warns, “And you are great at drinking and mixing drinks. But you are in for trouble” (Isaiah 5:22).

Sometimes I wish…

Sometimes, I wish I had an experience like Isaiah. I wish I could see the LORD in all his glory. I wish to see the beauty of the LORD filling his temple.

But maybe my experience and Isaiah’s experience of the LORD aren’t so radically different.

How you would feel? He kneels before you and draws the clay basin near. Strong hands loosen your sandals. He lifts your grimy, smelly foot to the side and brushes the grit from between your toes. Debris from the long walk today falls away. He lowers your foot into the cool water.

You inhale and exhale with pleasure and unexpected relief.

Everyone has at least one getting lost story. Even knowing the instructions on how to get there, you got lost. Maybe you were distracted or perhaps misread a street name. Regardless, the outcome was the same: lost.

The Psalmist talks about his great love for the word of God and his obedience to it.