ARE YOU SATISFIED!
Jim began to experiment with oil painting many years ago. He was and is his own worst critic. I look at his paintings and I am thrilled! He looks at them and says we can give them to family only. However, through the years we have shared them with those who are not family because I am pleased with them.

I am not a perfectionist, but I do like to finish what I begin. When most start a project and discover they are out of their league, they have a propensity for not being finishers. A cabinet maker must finish the cabinets in order for them to be wanted and installed into someone's home. A contractor must be a finisher if they ever want to be hired again. But most of us complete a project enough so that it can be used and never get it finished. Are they satisfied?

Many times I go to the hairdresser and I leave not satisfied. However, I can go home and take a comb/pick and fluff it up and become somewhat satisfied. Jim recently picked up a pair of slacks from the dry cleaner and discovered when he put them on to wear that they had a double crease down the front. Was he satisfied?

How many times do we discover we are not satisfied. We are not happy! We are disappointed and discouraged! How many times do we try to rectify a situation and only make it worse? This happens to me often. Our being satisfied is not a prerequisite to a full life. Our being satisfied will not promise us happiness. However, being satisfied once in a while is a good thing. God looks at us in all our struggles. He watches and waits!

There is an old gospel song that Jim and I would sing once in a while. He would play the guitar and carry the lead and I would sing harmony. I can't say we were the best in the business but we had a good time. "Do you ever search your heart as you watch the day depart. Is there something way down deep you try to hide? If this day should be the end and eternity begin, when the book is opened wide, would the Lord be satisfied?" By: Stuart Hamblen.

Sometimes we are frustrated because we are not satisfied but we should be asking ourselves; "Is God satisfied with me?" "Am I pleasing to the Savior who gave His life for me?" "Am I the person that God created me to be?" Some of us are just people pleaser's. Are you one of them?

The chorus of the song goes like this; "Is He satisfied, Is He satisfied? Is He satisfied with me? Have I done my best? Have I stood the test? Is He satisfied with me? When my Lord shall come again; When He walks and talks with men; What if every friend He had were just like me? Would He feel a welcome here, or would He go away in tears? Am I all that I should be, Is He satisfied with me?"

Our lives can be satisfied, but first; "If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday." Isaiah 58:10 If we accept the Lord and follow His commandments then; "The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire with good things and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." Isaiah 58:11

"He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with gain; this also is vanity." Eccel. 5:10 Ecclesiastes is full of little phrases that should catch our attention.
Philip said to Jesus in John 14:8; "Lord, show us the Father and we shall be satisfied." Jesus has shown us the Father and I for one am satisfied with Him. It is written; "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you." A good meal satisfies for the moment but Jesus Christ can satisfy for eternity. Jane Ann