Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Abundance (06/08/06)
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TITLE: I Got Plenty of Nothing | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marilyn Schnepp
06/09/06 -
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"I got plenty of nothing,
And nothing's plenty for me;
I got no car - got no mule
I got no misery.
"Folks with plenty of plenty
They've got a lock on the door;
Afraid somebody's gonna rob 'em
While they're out making more - what for?
"I got no lock on my door
That's no way to be -
They can steal the rug from the floor
That's OK with me!
'Cause the things that I prize -
Like the stars in the skies, are all free!"
Yep, I got plenty of nothing - And nothing's plenty for me...
What could have possibly brought this old song out of the dark ages to start kicking around in my head?
An E-mail from my brother, that's what!
You see, my brother has an abundance of...let's put it this way....he's.. ah, well... wealthy! Rich, affluent and lives in a lavish style that I've only dreamed about or seen in the movies. So, the Email was explaining their need to move to a new locale - followed by their new Condo address.
Being away from their home so much of the time, (six months of the year they live in Paris), and they also travel to exotic places and cruise the seven seas in a yacht, so naturally this adds up to misery (as it so aptly states in the above song), as they constantly worry about the lock on their door - So a Condo was their solution for 24/7 Security.
My poor brother! Just think! Having to give up his home to ensure his possessions were safe. No wonder that song started kicking around in my head as I read his E-mail.
Here I sit in my small apartment, at a three legged Early-American Goodwill desk with books propped under the absentee fourth leg to hold it up, reading his Email on a second-hand 'puter...while picturing him in his fashionably designed Condo with it's French Provincial furniture, plush carpeting on the floor and a Monet on the wall.
Looking around my room at the faded blue carpet on the floor, the mix-matched furniture of hand-me-downs, the large wall poster of Jesus holding a little black lamb (painted especially for me by a friend who knew I was the black sheep of the family) - I started thinking of the irony of it all.
Two seeds growing up in the same garden, my brother and I, both watered, nurished and fed, both loved and cared for equally by loving caretakers a/k/a parents, and yet so different when matured. Identical backgrounds - but each choosing different paths.
"Poor guy", I thought. "He loved his house...what a shame they had to move." I had to laugh when I thought of ME having to move in order to protect MY belongings. I didn't even lock my doors since my belongings were so chintzy and sparse.
I admit - there was a time when I envied my brother's good fortune. However, it changed when I met my Savior face to face. Now I think of the things I prize the most - the stars in the sky, the mountains high, an old oak tree and the raging sea...those things are free!
And to top off what nature has to offer... I've got an over abundance of God's love, God's mercy, God's security, God's blessings, God's forgiveness, God's word, God's promises...Oh, how rich and wealthy I am!
What more could a child of God need, anyway?
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What more could a child of God need, anyway?"
What more could we need, indeed? We just need to open our eyes to it.
Engaging writing... keep it up!