Prayer For Today

God, please give me a heart that can hold all of the good things in life:

a heart with compassion and kindness, with gentleness and patience,

and a heart that is open to spontaneity and joy.

Please form in me a heart that listens to all of your messages of love;

one that trusts, always looking for the goodness hidden in others;

one that will readily share the gifts you have given,

and one that can hope beyond difficulties.

Grant me a peaceful heart that will hold on to the real values in life

so that I can respond with assurance to what is important;

give me a heart that is grounded in love rather than fear;

one that is open to the needs of others

and will reach out with sincerity.

Please God, give me a heart filled with your Spirit. Amen.

Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  

      Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  

      Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.                            

       Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  

       Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  

       Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  

       Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  

        Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  

        Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

-this version is credited to Mother Teresa

Who Do You Say He Is?

C.S. Lewis  (1898–1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He  was a novelist and renowned Christian apologist. He is famous for the classic Narnia fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Witch, The Lion and the Wardrobe and also for his pro-Christian texts, The Case For Christianity,  Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain and many others.

 Here is one of my favorite quotes of his that I've used many times when I'm asked why I'm a Christian and believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.. When you read scripture Mark 14:61, Matthew 26:63, Jesus never sugar coated his response when asked by the  Jewish Sanhedrin if He was God.  So I ask you, do you believe Jesus was a liar? Do you believe he was crazy? Or do you believe He is  who He said He is?

Here is what C.S. Lewis would answer:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I Pray You Enough

To my children, I pray you enough! Love, Mom

  I pray you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

  I pray you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more. 

I pray you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting. 

 I pray you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

 I pray you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. 

I pray you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

 I pray you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words but great deeds.

To live in faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.”

― Christian D. Larson, Your Forces and How to Use Them

A Good Way To Start The Week....

More books have been written about Jesus than about any other figure in history.  More people have committed their lives to him than to any other religious leader.  More people attend church services in America than go to football games.  We were designed for the kind of intimacy with God that our first parents knew in the Garden, so our hearts will always yearn for him.  Our longings to be loved, accepted, and wanted all stem from this fact.  Our world is broken, not because our longings are wrong, but because we try to satisfy them everywhere but in God.

  Here's a good way to start the week: give yourself the gift of a few minutes with the One who loves you.  Begin with a moment of worship, as you "enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise" (Psalm 100:4).  Now ask the Spirit to show you a longing in your heart that you are trying to satisfy outside of Jesus.  Name it, and ask Jesus to meet it.  Now do whatever you sense his leading to do—be still, read Scripture, take a walk, listen to worship music.  Let the Great Physician heal that pain in your heart.  Ask the One who fed the 5,000 to feed your soul.

And he will.

source: Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, Dr. Jim Denison, Mar 24, 2014 

Faults - Sara Teasdale

Faults

They came to tell your faults to me,

They named them over one by one;

I laughed aloud when they were done,

I knew them all so well before,--

Oh, they were blind, too blind to see

Your faults had made me love you more.”

                          ― Sara Teasdale, Love Songs

I Shall Not Care - Sara Teasdale

I loved reading poetry when I was a teenager.The sadder and more tragic the better. Sara Teasdale was one of my favorites for her perspectives on love, beauty and death. Her knack for telling off men, longing for love had and missed captivated me. I always felt she was such a sad and tortured soul. I tried to imagine what type on man (or men) could stir in her such forlornness.  For me, I think I always felt sorry for her, yet envious she had such talent to be able to put such feelings into words. Turns out, thanks to the internet, I was correct about her. Sadly, she committed suicied by taking sleeping pills at age 48. Although frail and ill, I do wish she would have known no man was worth it. You can read about her and find her works here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Teasdale. I just downloaded my favorite collection" Love Songs" on my Ipad, to get myself reaquanted with her so I'll be posting more favorites from her in the future. 

I Shall Not Care

When I am dead and over me bright April

Shakes out her rain-drenched hair,

Tho' you should lean above me broken-hearted,

I shall not care.

I shall have peace, as leafy trees are peaceful

When rain bends down the bough,

And I shall be more silent and cold-hearted

Than you are now.

 

What Would Jesus Do?

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth……. "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other…..Be on your guard against every form of greed…. Owe nothing to anyone……Give to him who asks of you…..”

Jesus was radical in his messages to the people of his day. His words

are still radical in their message to us regarding financial and stewardship matters! He reminds us of the dangers of “loving” money and lives controlled by wants. He speaks about giving that shows where our hearts truly are found. And, he encourages us to keep our eyes on God rather than the latest fad or fashion.  Faced with choices every day, we constantly choose between the ways of the world and “another way of living.”

…….. ..TOSS IN THE CAN or RECYCLE THE CAN?

……… SECOND HELPING or HELPING THE HUNGRY?

……… COLLECT MORE or SHARE MORE?

……… GO FOR A WALK or SIT AND WATCH TV?

……….BUY NOW or SAVE TO BUY?

It’s vital that when we face the little and big stewardship choices of each day, we listen carefully to that still, small voice that whispers………….

“What would Jesus do?”

What will you do?

For My Son- Rod McKuen

   For My Son 

Watching children grow is like threatening the ivy to climb the garden wall. 

You wait for it to happen You hurry it along with love. 

But still, 

you're disappointed at giving someone life enough 

to walk off on their own and not be carried in your arms. 

You never turn your back - not once -and yet, one day, 

they've grown apart or taller. 

It's all the same.

Polly put the kettle on we'll have tea...Giving love to children has made us older overnight.

Jesus... The Great Physician

Jesus...

The Great Physician

 A physician will ask you how you feel and what your symptoms are;

The Great Physician knows how you feel 

           and understands what you are going through.

A physician will have you come to the office;

The Great Physician will stay with you and never leave your side.

A physician will show professional concern for you.

The Great Physician will show you true compassion.

A physician will treat you with the best medicine available;

The Great Physician will treat you with the riches of His grace.

A physician will follow your progress with periodic visits;

The Great Physician will keep you in His constant care.

A physician will send you a bill for services rendered;

The Great Physician does His work without charge.

A physician tries his very best to help you;

The Great Physician assures you that your life couldn't be in better hands!

Just Now

Just now my thoughts are all of you.

Know that and be glad.

For knowing that you live.....and that you walk or laugh,

...in or out of my direction,

   is enough to make me smile.

A WISH FROM MIKEY

Every now and then something leads me into my attic. Maybe it's been the long winter and lots of boring weekends that  prompted me to go through the special memory box I keep there. I came across this Hallmark book that was a gift from my friend Mike many years ago. He is no longer with us here on this earth, but in my heart he is with me always. Thanks again, Mike. Miss you.  

A wish from Mike on my 16th birthday, 1973. 

                        

I do not wish you joy without a sorrow....

  Nor endless day without the healing dark,

Nor brilliant sun  without the restful shadow,

  Nor tides that never turn against your bark.

I wish you love, and strength, and faith and wisdom,

Goods, gold enough to help some needy one...

I wish you songs, but also blessed silence,

And God's sweet peace when every day is done.

                                                                                                                         - Dorothy Nell McDonald