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FOOd FOr tHOugHt

olD DogS

anD neW TRiCkS

by PeTeR SToFFbeRg

hoever coined the phrase “you can’t
teach an old dog new tricks”, could have
Wbenefi ted from regular coffee dates
with the person who revealed that “necessity is
the mother of all invention”. This may have been
especially true had they needed to fathom the
mysteries of a virtual online meeting platform in
order to meet, but more about that later.

It’s not the aged that struggle with new tricks,
it’s the comfortable and contented. Hungry or
otherwise discontented creatures, on the other
hand, are fi ercely ingenious. Those in dire need, PRAYER SCRIPTURE
fi nd ways to learn new tricks. Take the last few
months for example, most of us probably won’t
remember 2020 as the year of comfort and
contentment. Many factors have conspired to lead
us far from our comfort zones. Yet, think about all
that we’ve had the opportunity to learn. WORSHIP SERVING

Many parents have learned that teachers are not LIVE
paid nearly enough. They’ve also had a chance
to learn secondary languages, equations, facts audio every Sunday
and formulas in the course of their children’s 9h30
online learning classes. In our home, we’ve had www.familychurch.online
opportunities to learn about plumbing, electricity,
maintenance and DIY, not to mention volumes
about connectivity, video conferencing, streaming
and other information technology. Most of all, we
learned about each other and grown closer as a
family.
Thinking about the contrasting philosophies
represented by the two idioms, I wonder how many God loves and accepts us the way we are, but that
He loves us too much to leave us that way. Like any
modern inventions would still be fl oating around good Father, He wants us to become the best we
undiscovered in our collective consciousness, can be, and to achieve the heights He created us
had suffering and for. Allowing us to face adversity, and carrying us
discontentment not
intervened to release through it, is often the best opportunity for that to
happen. Everyone suffers some time, we don’t have
them. Pleasant a choice, but we can choose to waste that suffering,
experiences can grow or to invest it wisely.
and develop us, but
adversity seems to As these strange times continue to offer us new
be the more effective
learning opportunities, we can choose to be the
teacher – provided we old dog and languish in the apparent futility, or we
want to learn. In tough can look in hope to Jesus. He turned His suffering
times we can play the and death into an opportunity to provide a restored,
old dog and stubbornly eternal relationship with God to everyone who
ignore the pressing
trusts Him. He can transform our suffering in the
needs, or we can accept same way, if we trust Him to. Let’s not waste the
the pain, and make it opportunity.
work for us. The fi rst
approach will break and
embitter us, the second
will build us up.

The Bible teaches that

Connect with us for a virtual coffee date on connect@familychurch.online.

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