January 10 - Many different readings

Today I thought I would share my thoughts from all of my daily readings. From the Daily Writer, Fred White to day talked about dreams and keeping a dream journal. He states that dreams offer the writer a wellspring of character development. In his daily assignment he suggests that you write a story from one of your dreams and not worry about the fact that things seem to be odd jutapositions of items or actions. He refers the writer back to a large white rabbit and a pocket watch. On the surface an odd jutaposition but in reality from it developed the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland going on about being late.
The two daily devotionals that I am reading are The Upper Room and Daily Splashes of Joy by Barbara Johnson. From the The Upper Room the writer talked about facing your fears and listening to God telling you to do something that maybe you are afraid that you may not be able to accomplish and he reminds us that if God wants us to do something He will give the courage and the strength necessary to do the task. In Daily Splashes of Joy Barbara Johnsn today talks about how Christians need not fear death because we know that the end of this life means the beginning of an eternal life that is so much more than what we have on earth.
Then there was my Bible reading for the day which was Genesis 30-31. In Genesis 30 I read again the story of Jacob's many children born by his two wives and their maidservants. The thing that has always made me wonder is that each one of these children were given by God but in answer to prayers that voiced the two sister's envy of one another. It would seem that God would not reward envy, but then I remember that it is from these twelve sons that the twelve tribes of Israel will come. In Genesis 31 Jacob prepares to leave Laban his father-in-law and return to his country. It also talks about how Laban has repeatedly attempted to cheat and underpay Jacob. These two stories on their own would make one wonder about how God treats his children. That would be taking the stories out of context. This is something that writers on the topic of Bible Study warn against. So for now am not going to try to figure out why these things happened but trust that God had a plan all along. Which is something that I need to take into my daily life.