Down Day

We reached Baton Rouge yesterday afternoon and our slightly-less-active partners are taking a rest day. My Beloved Husband is treating what is either an allergy problem or the onset of a cold. Symptoms and treatments are so similar that the best treatment (other than head-clearing medication) is rest. Our MD traveling companion could use the day's rest, too - and I must admit it is nice to be in a hotel that is not only comfortable and convenient, but offers a nice business area with a real keyboard. We're carrying handhelds with those tiny (well, a bit bigger on the tablet) keypads that don't fit my touch-typing fingers.

I didn't have a specific Bible verse in mind when I sat down here, but BibleGateway.com came up with one:

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. Matthew 6:5 (KJV)

From that last sentence, we can assume they were looking for a reward of some kind - but not what I have in mind. I remembered that scripture at a funeral several years ago. I was setting up for the family meal our church members provide for funerals. Several other volunteers were there to make the serving easy and the cleanup quick. A family member brought the memory book and asked if we would sign our names as she knew the widow would want to thank all who remembered her family.

There was one lady who declined to sign. I know I looked quizzically at her because she said "God knows, and I'd like to keep it that way." She didn't mention this scene, but it did come to my mind, along with the scene:

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Matthew 6:1-6 (KJV)

The best lesson I've taken away from the scripture - and the experience - is to live both quietly and openly the life we know God sees. When we understand that God does hold us accountable for all we do:

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matthew 12:36 (KJV)

. . . we will be closer to making the changes in our lives that He has in mind for us. What better reward could we have than to do what He requires:

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 (KJV)

There is no better reward, is there?