Have you heard or used the word ‘serendipity’? It suggests happy coincidences; seemingly random events that work in your favor. Even if you don’t use this term, you may have noticed the same concept in effect in your life. What do you attribute this to? It seems disingenuous to say that unlikely random events work out in your favor consistently. I promised to send rain and sun on the just and on the unjust, to provide for the evil and good alike. Just being alive on the earth makes you a recipient of my blessings. Yet how much greater a blessing to see and acknowledge my involvement in your life. 

My word teaches you to remember the poor. This implies that more than remembrance is called for. Act in such a way to relieve their poverty. Saying that you don’t know any poor people is not an excuse or an argument against action. Go out and find them. This is an example of a greater principle, the way you treat the weakest members of your society. In ancient times it included the stranger in the land. At that time it didn’t include the elderly, but did include widows. The same principle applies today even if the demographics shift. How do you treat the weakest, whether they are poor, or elderly, or children, or strangers far from home, or animals?

My word teaches you not to worry about tomorrow, or about what you should eat or drink or wear. For your Father will provide for you as he provides for the sparrows, and as for raiment, he clothes the lilies of the field in glory. If you accept this teaching for yourself, can you also accept that you should not worry about other people? If worrying about yourself gives no benefit, how much less worrying about someone else? Are you concerned about a loved one who makes bad choices? Are theirs any worse than yours? If my power keeps you when you make bad choices it will keep them too. 

I loved Jacob and hated Esau. Why would I do that? Jacob had a lot of issues, and was in many ways lacking in character. Yet Jacob had a deep insatiable spiritual hunger, while Esau was casual and indifferent about spiritual things. Jacob’s determination to get the blessing led him to do whatever it took, and this caused him strife and upheaval in this world, but I was pleased with his focus and devotion. Jacob paid a high price for his methods, but he is an example of my promise that if you seek you will find. I was pleased with his desire and he got what he wanted with some help from me. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.