A man was being chased by a ferocious tiger. He ran until he came to a sheer cliff. As the tiger came bearing down on him, he grabbed a rope hanging over the cliff and climbed down out of the tiger's reach. The man looked up and saw the tiger leering at him, waiting to devour him. Then he looked down below the cliff. There was a deadly drop to the rocks of over five hundred feet. Then he looked up and saw two mice beginning to chew the rope. What should he do? The tiger above, the rocks below, and the rope about to break! Just then he saw a bright red strawberry growing out of the side of the cliff. He stretched out his hand, plucked the strawberry and popped it into his mouth. The juices of the strawberry were so sweet that as he ate he couldn't contain himself. He blurted out, "Delicious, that's the best strawberry I ever tasted!"
Had the man been preoccupied with the tiger (the past) or preoccupied with the future (the rocks below), he would never have enjoyed the strawberry, which we would call "the gift of the present." Sometimes we become so preoccupied with the past and the future that we fail to thank the Lord for all that we have in Him. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 100:4-5, "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations." Thank God for all that you have in your relationship with Him. Thank Him for being a God of goodness, a God of steadfast-love, and a God of faithfulness. And remember that God loves you and so does First Baptist Church.