Thought for March 6

 History:

• 1836: The Alamo falls after a 13-day siege. 
• 1853: Verdi's "La Traviata" premiers
• 1857: Dred Scott decision holds that Africans cannot become US citizens
• 1869: Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society
• 1899: Bayer patents asprin
• 1918: US Naval boat Cyclops disappears in the Bermuda Triangle
• 1945: George Nissen receives a patent for the first modern trampoline
• 1950: Silly Putty goes on sale in the US
• 1951: Rosenberg trial begins
• 1964: Cassius Clay becomes Muhammad Ali
• 1966: "Ballad of the Green Berets" hits #1
• 1976: Dorothy Hamill wins world figure skating gold
• 1981: Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time
• 2018: Megan Barry resigns a Nashville Mayor
• Born: Michelangelo, Cyrano de Bergerac, Casimir Pulaski [father of American cavalry and namesake of Pulaski TN], Elisabeth Barrett Browning, Lefty Grove, Lou Costello, Alan Greenspan, Gordon Cooper, Valentina Tereshkova [1st woman in space], Willie Stargell, Dick Fosbury, Shaquille O'Neal
• Died: Louisa May Alcott, John Philip Sousa, Oliver Wendall Holmes Jr., John Borglum [Mt Rushmore], William Hopper [Paul Drake on Perry Mason], Pearl Buck, Ayn Rand, Georgia O'Keefe, Nancy Reagan

Thought:

Reading about prayer in the Sermon on the Mount this morning, Matthew 6:5-15. Three things I have marked cause me to pause today.

• The Father sees [6:6]. He sees me when I pray and how I pray. He knows my motives--communication with Him or to be seen or heard by men. How does this truth impact the way I pray? Jesus went away from the crowds and His disciples to pray. He started each day early with the Father in prayer. He prayed fervently. How does my prayer life compare? Do I come with the right motives--to know Him, praise Him, thank Him, seek Him, or do I always come simply asking for something. We may have had that experience with our children--they never come just to talk, they come with an ask. Is that how I approach the Father?
• The Father knows what I need [6:8]. So why do I spend so much time explaining the situation to Him? With my daughter, when there was an issue about what she should do in a situation, we would talk, I would ask her some questions and as she answered the questions, she would get clarity about what she should do. I approached law clients similarly. Sometimes I spend time telling a God who knows about the situation because as I speak and as He poses questions [is that the right way? Why are you asking for this?]I begin to find His will and His way. But I know He knows what I really need before I speak. Aren't you glad that the God you pray to and with knows you, your past, your future and loves you--that's why we can trust Him.
• The Father forgives those that forgive [6:15]. Wonder why Jesus put this extra verse in here. The Model Prayer already says "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." [6:12] Why does Jesus say it again? He knows me--I may say I want God to forgive me as, to the extent, in the same way I forgive others; but saying and doing are two different things. Jesus wants me to understand that when I hate, bear grudges, hold anger, wish evil, I cannot expect Him to forgive me because I have certainly done more to hurt Him than anyone has done to hurt me. 

Today I want to remember that He sees, He knows and He forgives when I forgive others. And it will be a great day.

Blessings

Larry