Here is the next devotional thought. I bet you guys are getting more country every day. So here is a country story with some merit.
The Mystery of the Hole
An old country preacher was out visiting one day, and he decided to stop by a ladies house around lunch time because he knew she could cook. And indeed, she was just starting to make something when he "happened by". She was putting all the ingredients in a bowl and began stirring when he came up and after some small talk, she took the dough and began cutting it out into small round looking cakes. She had a big pot over the fire with lard boiling in it. She began to carefully place each small pastry in the lard and then waited. After each was taken out, she gave the preacher one of the doughnuts and they were some GOOD doughnuts.
The preacher raved about the homemade delight, and then said, "These doughnuts are great. But what is the point of cutting out the hole? It just seems like there would be more goodness to this doughnut, or at least one more bite, if you just left the hole out and kept the doughnut in."
She said, "Some people are never content with the goodness they have before them. People complain all the time about the goodness they think is not there. You would be a fool to leave the hole in for this reason. You could cook it with the hole in until the outside is hard as a rock, but the inside would still be nothing but dough. It is like Ephraim in Hosea 7:8: "A cake half turned is a cake not cooked."
The preacher decided to ponder on the holes we have in our life. The pain that is caused by the holes can be debilitating. The empty spaces in human life and the desolation of the vacancies. But, without the hole, we wouldn't have a place for God to come in. He discussed all his thoughts with the cook and she said, "I don't really understand all the reasons why, because the hole in my heart aches sometimes to the point of surrender. But, a person who doesn’t use the good things he has and complains to God for what he lacks, is like a person who would reject a doughnut because he doesn't understand the mystery of the hole."
May God bless you with everything you need today. And grant you peace too.
Jeremy
