Tag: God
Monday, January 30th, 2012
This story came in my e-mail two days ago. It is so beautiful that I want to share it with you.
Freedom and Jeff
Freedom and I have been together 11 years this summer.
She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings.
Her left wing doesn’t open all the way even after surgery,
it was broken in 4 places.
She’s my baby.
When Freedom came in she could not stand and both wings were broken. She was emaciated and covered in lice.
We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vet’s office.
From then on, I was always around her.
We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to
lay in.
I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight, and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes.
We also had to tube feed her for weeks.
This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn’t stand.
It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn’t stand in a week.
You know you don’t want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning.
She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon.
I didn’t want to go to the center that Thursday because I couldn’t bear the thought of her being euthanized;
I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear.
I went immediately back to her cage, and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.
We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her.
I got her used to the glove, then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington. We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV. Miracle Pets even did a show
about us.
In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair – the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.
Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone.
So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill.
I hadn’t said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don’t know how long .
That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird.
On a side note:
I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them.
I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled, and he
swore he could feel her power course through his body. I have so many stories like that..
I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedom.
The story concluded with this quote:
But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:31)
The Lord’s strength is a sacred gift, given to help us heal when we are broken. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, healing, sacred gifts, strength
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Monday, January 23rd, 2012
“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
(Isaiah 40:31)
Last year was a very difficult year for our family. In November it became much worse. That’s why I haven’t written this blog.
In the weeks that I have not felt that I could write these words kept going through my mind:
“Let go and let God.”
It is hard for me to do that. I am a person of action who needs to be steering the ship. This morning, as I was working, the verse from Isaiah came into my mind. It is one of my favorite verses from the Bible.
I ask the Lord to lift up my family on eagles’ wings and to lift up your family, too.
The Lord’s help when we are burdened is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: faith, freedom, God
Posted in Inspiration, spirituality | 4 Comments »
Saturday, September 17th, 2011
This was sent to me today by e-mail. It so powerful that I want to share it with you.
MEET ME IN THE STAIRWELL
You say you will never forget where you were when
you heard the news On September 11, 2001.
Neither will I.
I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room
with a man who called his wife to say ‘Good-Bye.’ I
held his fingers steady as he dialed. I gave him the
peace to say, ‘Honey, I am not going to make it, but it
is OK..I am ready to go.’
I was with his wife when he called as she fed
breakfast to their children. I held her up as she
tried to understand his words and as she realized
he wasn’t coming home that night.
I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a
woman cried out to Me for help. ‘I have been
knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years!’ I said.
‘Of course I will show you the way home – only
believe in Me now.’
I was at the base of the building with the Priest
ministering to the injured and devastated souls.
I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven. He
heard my voice and answered.
I was on all four of those planes, in every seat,
with every prayer. I was with the crew as they
were overtaken. I was in the very hearts of the
believers there, comforting and assuring them that their
faith has saved them.
I was in Texas , Virginia , California , Michigan , Afghanistan
I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news.
Did you sense Me?
I want you to know that I saw every face. I knew
every name – though not all knew Me. Some met Me
for the first time on the 86th floor.
Some sought Me with their last breath.
Some couldn’t hear Me calling to them through the
smoke and flames; ‘Come to Me… this way… take
my hand.’ Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me.
But, I was there.
I did not place you in the Tower that day. You
may not know why, but I do. However, if you were
there in that explosive moment in time, would you have
reached for Me?
Sept. 11, 2001, was not the end of the journey
for you. But someday your journey will end. And I
will be there for you as well. Seek Me now while I may
be found. Then, at any moment, you know you are
‘ready to go.’
I will be in the stairwell of your final moments.
God
God’s love for us is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, sacred gifts
Posted in Inspiration, spirituality | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
“The Lord bless and keep you;
the Lord make his face
shine upon you,
and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His
countenance upon you,
and give you peace.”
(Numbers 6:24-26)
I have always loved these words. Just reading them makes me feel peaceful. I love the idea of God shining His face upon me. It tells me that His eyes are always upon us and we are always in His hands.
Jesus said,
“I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.”
(John 8:12)
The more years pass the more acutely aware I become that we all have pain in our lives. Sometimes it is a temporary pain. Sometimes it is a sorrow that is always with us.
As I pray for help for people who are suffering I pray that each person will feel the Lord’s blessings and have a lightening of the physical and emotional burdens they carry.
The Lord’s light is a sacred gift. I wish you countless gifts.
Tags: God, sacred gifts
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Friday, June 3rd, 2011
Yesterday I read a column in our local town newspaper. The writer talked about seeing a just-born fawn and its mother. She called it a “God moment.” What a beautiful phrase!
It made me think of the moments in my life that were God moments. I remembered….
a rainbow arcing across the sky after a heavy rain.
holding my newborn daughters in my arms for the first time.
seeing an unbelievably turquoise lake at the base of a hill that was too steep to climb.
watching a newborn Morgan horse foal stand on its spindly legs for the first time.
finding a tiny, perfect, purple flower in a wet field on a drizzly afternoon.
breathing in the essence of my grandbabies as I gently kissed their soft, sweet cheeks.
Each God moment was incredibly beautiful.
What have your God moments been?
God God moments are sacred gifts.
Tags: God, sacred gifts
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Thursday, January 13th, 2011
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
Then said I, Here am I; send me.”
Isaiah 6:1-8
Isaiah’s words have been in my mind as I thought about the tragedy in Tucson. The words reminded me that we are each messengers from the Lord. At least, we should be.
God’s messengers were at the scene.
In the form of a mother, Mary Reed, who took three bullets to protect her daughter.
In the form of George Morris who tried to shield his wife from the gunman’s bullets.
In the form of Dorwan Stoddard who sacrificed his life to save his wife’s life.
In the form of Daniel Hernandez, a volunteer in Congresswoman Giffords’ office who ran to minister to his boss, applying pressure to her wounds to keep her alive.
In the form of the men who forced the gunman to the ground and the woman, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away his ammunition clip so that he could not reload and shoot more people.
God’s messengers continued to appear after the shooting. The doctors and nurses and emergency medics brought God’s healing. God’s messengers appeared in the form of all people who have prayed for the injured and the dead and their families. They will even be appearing in the form of angels.
Some Tucson residents will be wearing 8-by-10 foot “angel wings” to shield mourners from picketers who belong to a local church that has picketed the funerals of military veterans and AIDS victims.
Their acts have been called an “angel action.” We have all been called by the Lord to be His messengers, his human angels who bring His message in the form of love and kindness.
Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556)
The ability to say to the Lord,
“Here am I; send me,”
is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: angels, God, sacred gifts
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Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
He will raise you up on eagle’s wings,
Bear you o the breadth of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His hand.
I have always loved this hymn. When the choir sings it in church, I have to fight away tears. It tugs at my heart.
I think I love it because it describes our relationship with the Lord. It talks about how He lifts us up to be the best that we can be. He raises us up as high as we can go.
Significantly, He raises us up above what we think we can be. He raises us up as high as an eagle can fly. He takes our natural abilities and polishes them so that we can “shine like the sun.” How incredible!
The best part of the hymn for me, though, is the last line. It gives me an overwhelming feeling of comfort to know He is holding me “in the palm of His hand.” With the Lord’s protection and help I feel both protected and filled with possibilities.
Being in the palm of His hand is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, sacred gifts
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Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
The other day we were taking an outdoor family Christmas photo. I said to my daughter, “God could have skipped making bugs.” She answered, “But they pollinate flowers.” My response was, “Then he should have made bugs that don’t bite, sting or carry disease.”
Maybe there’s a reason for insects, but, with the exception of bees, I don’t see the reason. It’s like that with a lot of things in life.
We don’t understand why things happen or don’t happen. We don’t understand why they happen the way they do. In most cases we will never know.
I guess we have to trust that many parts of God’s creation are like bees. Yes, they sting, but they also make delicious honey. Not only is it delicious, it is life-giving. We have discovered that eating locally-grown honey can help people with seasonal allergies. There is far more to a bee than its sting.
I often find myself thinking, “If I were God,I would….” or “If I were God, I wouldn’t…” That is what I think from my human perspective. In God’s wisdom there may be many people and places and situations that are irritating, even painful, yet turn out to be life-giving.
Bees are a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: bees, God, sacred gifts
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Friday, October 8th, 2010
“God paints the earth with a beautiful palette of warm and cozy colors.”
This quote is from a comment I received on my next-to-last post, The Gift of Fall. I love the image of God painting the earth. I can picture him holding a huge palette in His hand.
On it are dabs of every single color the world has ever seen. As He created the world He selected the colors from the palette. What beauty He made!
Yellow giraffes.
Orange pumpkins.
A blue hydrangea.
Black, white and brown stripes on a baby zebra.
The green grass under a little boy’s feet.
Each color is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, painting, sacred gifts
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Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
I have come that they may might have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly.
(John 10:10)
Another beautiful day. Again it was in the 70’s. By the end of the week it will be in the 40’s. Knowing that made me enjoy today even more.
The leaves are just beginning to turn, reminding me that Winter is coming. I know that there will be only a few more warm days before Winter arrives to wrap us in ice and snow for several months.
I guess all of life is like that. We appreciate the good things even more when we think of the bad times that we have gone through and the bad times that will surely come again. Because we have fought through illness, injury, financial problems, relationship problems, disappointment and grief, worries and woe of all descriptions we are even more appreciative of the simple joy of a beautiful day.
Savoring each simple joy refreshes the soul. The joy of a chocolate brownie, a visit with a friend, a perfect rose, a new book to read won’t solve any of our problems now or prevent any problems in the future. But, taking the time to savor each joyful moment, helps us to be happy in the midst of whatever our lives are like right now.
An abundance of simple joys is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: abundance, God, happiness, joy, sacred gifts
Posted in Inspiration, spirituality | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
“When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze;
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee; How great Thou art!
How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee;
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!”
(How Great Thou Art)
Today was a picture-perfect day. Warm, sunny, just a hint of a gentle breeze. It was a great-to-be-alive day.
I had lunch with a friend who is having difficult health problems that will probably never be healed. She lives in pain and is limited in what she can do. We empathized with each other since I have been going though so many difficulties since my accident.
I felt guilty, though, because I will heal completely or almost completely. In a year I should be normal, whatever the new normal will be. She will always live in distress.
Despite our physical problems, temporary or permanent, we could, and did, enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. Even though I was walking with a cane and she was walking with a walker we could both walk.
My soul sang with the beauty of the day. I agree with the naturalist, John Muir, who wrote:
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal
and give strength to body and soul.”
Nature is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, nature, sacred, sacred gifts
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Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
I am blessed beyond measure. I have three amazingly wonderful daughters. Every day I thank God for each of them. This morning I gave an extra thank you as I spent time with a lovely young woman whose mother has Alzheimer’s.
I could feel her pain coming through the pores of her skin. She is sad about all the things she can no longer do with her mother. They can’t even do something as simple as sitting and talking to each other. Her mother thinks she is talking to her, but expressing coherent thoughts is beyond her now.
Erica wishes that she could spend time with her mother as she used to. She wishes that her mother could be involved in the lives of her own three young daughters as she always was before she became ill. As I had lunch with one of my daughters afterward, I appreciated what a blessing it is to know and love and be with your daughter in a way that her mother will never again be able to do.
Daughters are a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: Alzheimer's, daughters, God, sacred, sacred gifts
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Friday, September 10th, 2010
When I was in church this morning, the children sang “Servant Song” by Sr. Donna Marie McGargill. The first verse spoke directly to my heart.
What do you want of me, Lord?
Where do you want me to serve you?
Where can I sing your praises?
I am Your Song.
I often ask if the things I think the Lord is asking me to do are things that He is indeed asking. Sometimes I am sure of the answer. Loving people and helping them is a definite “yes.” Being thankful for all my blessings is a definite “yes.”Having more patience is a “yes.” Praying more and worrying less is a “yes.”
It is when I get to the creative area of my life that I am not always sure of the answer. One day I think that writing this blog is a “yes.” The next day I wonder if it is. One day I think that continuing to try to find a publisher for a little book that I believe He sent me is a “yes.” The next day I’m not sure.
I am always wondering, “What do you want of me, Lord?” I hope I have the wisdom to know when the thoughts I have are His voice in my head and when they are simply my thinking.
The chance to be His Song is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: blessings, God, patience, publishing, sacred, sacred gifts
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Monday, September 6th, 2010
The greatest gifts that God has given me are His love, my family, my friends and photography. I receive unimaginable joy in taking pictures and even greater joy in sharing my photographs with others. Today I am simply going to share some pictures with you. I hope they make you smile or bring back a happy memory.
Being able to relive our happy moments is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: family, friends, God, photography, sacred, sacred gifts
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Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
No one would ever have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm.
(Charles Kettering, 1876 – 1958)
Hurricane Earl and its potential for damage is all over the news. The people in The Outer Banks of North Carolina are preparing for Earl to hit landfall at midnight. People on the East Coast as far as Cape Cod are watching to see what path the storm will follow.
The hurricane makes me think of all the storms in our lives that we have weathered and how many more storms we may still have ahead of us. There are physical storms like hurricanes, relationship storms, money storms, job storms. There are the storms caused by illness and injury and aging. There are the storms we face when our bodies won’t work right or our minds overwhelm us.
In most cases there is no way to stop the storm from coming. All we can do is ride it out and pray for the Lord to help us. Remember the story of Jesus’ disciples in a boat on the Sea of Galilee? After several hours a storm came up. Because they were in a small boat in the midst of a great storm the disciples were terrified. It was only after Jesus walked across the water and climbed into the boat with them that the storm ceased.
This story reminds me that, with the Lord’s help, we can weather every storm. I wish it meant that there will be no more storms. It doesn’t. I wish it meant that we wouldn’t be afraid. It doesn’t. It means simply that if God is in the boat with us we can weather any storm.
Divine help in the storms of our lives is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, sacred, sacred gifts, storms
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Sunday, August 29th, 2010
Last Thursday, August 26, was the hundreth anniversary of Mother Teresa’s birth. When I read that fact in the newspaper, I remembered one of my favorite quotes.
Mother Teresa once talked about being like “a little pencil” in God’s hand. She said, “That is all. He does the thinking. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it. The pencil has only to be allowed to be used.”
I often think about being a little pencil in God’s hand as I write this blog. Before I decide what I am going to write about, I stop and ask the Lord to guide me. I ask Him to use me to write words that will help someone. I pray that He will use me as a little pencil.
I also pray that I can continue to keep writing. Paul and Timothy wrote a letter to God’s people in Philippi. They said,
“God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished.”
(Philippians 1:6)
I want to continue this good work for as long as God wants to use me.
The chance to be “a little pencil in God’s hand” is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, sacred, sacred gifts, writing
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Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Dark clouds race across the sky bringing thunder and lightning and torrential rain. The earth shakes with the force of the storm.
Then, almost in the blink of an eye, it is over. The sun comes out, lighting up the sky so that it seems to glow. This is the time when you may see a rainbow.
To me rainbows are magic. In reality a rainbow is a bending of light when it hits the moisture in the atmosphere. It is a glorious arc of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet bands.
When I see a rainbow, I think of Noah. The rainbow is the symbol of God’s covenant with Noah. It is a sign of God’s promise that He will always be there for us.
When we go through the storms of life, we may feel that we are drowning. We can rely on ourselves alone and be filled with fear or we can rely on the Lord and be filled with a sense of peace, knowing that we will see a rainbow once the storm passes.
The promise of a rainbow is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, rainbows, sacred, sacred gifts
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Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
“Just when he thought the world had ended, the caterpillar became a butterfly.”
When I saw those words on a poster my reaction was simply, “Wow! I never thought of it that way.” The transformation from caterpillar to butterfly is truly miraculous. The caterpillar is slow-moving and stolid. The butterfly is beauty in flight. I have heard a butterfly described as a flower with wings.
Before it becomes a butterfly, a caterpillar goes through a growth stage that is called a chrysalis. In the chrysalis the fuzzy caterpillar changes into a butterfly that has intricate designs on its wings and is brightly-colored.
There are lessons for us in the transformation of the caterpillar into the butterfly. We plod along thinking we know where we are going, but often we are surprised. We may end up as something we never even knew we could become, just like the caterpillar never knew it would become a butterfly.
When it looks like our world is ending and we are in despair, we may be about to have wonderful things happen to us. Like the caterpillar in the chrysalis we have no way of knowing what is coming, but God knows. He knows what wonderful things He has planned for us.
Trusting God when it looks like our world is crashing around us is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: butterfly, God, sacred, sacred gifts
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Friday, August 13th, 2010
I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible.
Saint Teresa
Do you remember when some people began removing the word “obey” from their marriage vows? “To love, honor and obey” was replaced by “to love and honor.” Sometimes the promise to love, honor and obey was replaced entirely by vows written by the bride and groom. The promise of obedience no longer was seen as a necessity in the marriage relationship.
In the relationship between man and God, though, the promise of obedience is as necessary today as it has always been. Every day I read the Proverbs 31 Ministries Daily Devotions. Today Lysa TerKeurst wrote about being called to serve God through that ministry. She told how she realized that she didn’t have to worry about the success of the ministry. All she had to do was be obedient to what she believed God wanted her to do. She wrote,“My job all along was to simply be obedient to God. My job was obedience, God’s job was results. That’s true no matter what we’re pursuing – be it a job, a spouse, a calling or a dream.”
How comforting it is to remove the burden of being a success from our shoulders and instead to be concerned only with answering God’s call. We are each called to fill a unique place in God’s plan. We were created to do that. I’m sure you have heard the saying, “Stop beating yourself up.” Stop finding fault with yourself. Stop feeling that you aren’t good enough. I am a champion at feeling that I have failed. From now on I am going to try to remember that we are a success as long as we try hard to do the work that God has given us and ask Him to create the best results.
Obeying God’s call and trusting Him to carry us through is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, obedience, sacred, sacred gifts
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Monday, August 9th, 2010
Who is rich? He who rejoices in his portion.
The Talmud
Our society in the recent past became a consumer culture. People were concerned with “keeping up with the Joneses.” They were concerned with having more and getting more. Advertisers played into and increased this desire to own, to have something better. They created a desire to have the best. They certainly made us want things we hadn’t even known existed.
While we are still bombarded constantly with “buy it now” messages, the consumer culture has cooled. This is because we are in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Fortunately, every cloud does have a silver lining.
The silver lining of economic loss is emotional and spiritual gain. We have gained the chance to savor a simpler lifestyle. It is the lifestyle of our grandparents and great-grandparents.
The famous photographer, Edward Steichen, described the “sweet simple things in life” that they knew.
“The boy and girl going hand in hand through a meadow; the mother washing her baby.”
There are so many beautiful things for us to enjoy every day. I think of:
playing ball with our dog
sharing a laugh with my husband
giving our babies, big and little, smoochy kisses
eating dark, decadent, delicious chocolate
visiting with a friend
spending time with my daughters
photographing flowers
As Robert Louis Stevenson said,
, “The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.”
The sweetness of the simple things in our lives is in sharp contrast to the hurried, worried acquiring that can leave only the “desolation of an empty abundance.” (Michael Harrington)
Rejoicing in the simplicity of our lives is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, sacred, sacred gifts, simplicity
Posted in Inspiration, spirituality | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
Yesterday I received this beautiful prayer in an e-mail from beliefnet.com. Because it spoke directly to my heart I wanted to share it with you.
A Prayer for Patience
God, thank you for this day.
This beautiful, amazing day.
Here again, with You, for You, today.
God, give me patience to endure the hardships of this day.
Help me to see that they, too are great blessings in disguise.
Let me see the pain and difficulty as ways of coming to know You,
Dear Lord God.
God who loves me so, who looks for me,
And cares for me.
All this beautiful day.
I will be with You, God, always – as You are always with me in all ways.
Amen
This prayer is beautifully written. It is right about so many things.
First, today is an amazing day. Every day is amazing because life is an amazing gift.
Second, we always need the gift of patience, me perhaps more than others.
Third, we sometimes need help to see our troubles as blessings in disguise. I am still trying to see how my accident and the recuperation after could be a blessing. I guess I will get to see that only after time has passed.
Finally, God is always with us and that is our comfort on the beautiful days and the painful days.
Being able to talk to God in prayer is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, prayer, sacred, sacred gifts
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Monday, August 2nd, 2010
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”
Hebrews 10:35-36
Do you ever feel like it is too hard to keep trying? Do you think, “Why bother because I’m not going to succeed?” Are you bone-tired from doing what you believe you are supposed to do and feeling like you are getting nowhere?
I have. I think we all have. The idea of quitting is alluring. It would be easier to be a good wife and mother rather than a wonderful one. It would be easier to make peace with fat rather than continuing to fight it. It would be easier to stop creating and trying to build something new rather than staying where you are – comfortable, satisfied, but not elated.
I had someone tell me once that the voice you hear telling you to stop trying is the voice of the devil. Maybe it is. I do know that the only way to keep trying is with the Lord’s help. I read this quote from an anonymous source: “Your persistence is your measure of faith in yourself.” I think that’s true, but I think it is far more true that your persistence is your measure of faith in the Lord. With His help you can take another step, then another, then another.
Thomas Edison said, “The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” That may be a secret to success. To focus on just once more. To still the voice that says, “You’ve failed,” and the voice that says, “You’ll never succeed.” To listen to the voice that says, “With My help you will succeed.”
Having the courage to persevere is a sacred gift. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, perseverance, sacred, sacred gifts
Posted in Inspiration, spirituality | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
“And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will complete it.”
(Philippians 1:6)
It is so easy to feel discouraged. When you work as hard as you can and don’t get the results you want, it is so easy to feel that you will never succeed. My husband, who is a very wise man, will listen to me lament that I have failed and will say, “You haven’t failed. You just haven’t succeeded yet.” Those are reassuring words. Of course, when he says them, I think, “He’s just saying that because he loves me.” Then, I realize that he’s right. As long as a person is trying they haven’t failed. They only fail if they give up before they reach their goal.
My goal is to build an audience for this blog. The above quote from Philippians helps me to remember that sharing God’s word is a good work and that, with God’s help, I can be successful. I also think of these words from Genesis:
God is with you in all that you do.
(Genesis 21:22)
Whether it is sharing His word in a blog or doing any other good work I believe that God is with us, helping us even when we can’t see His hands. Just like He carries us even at the times that we can’t see His footprints in the sand.
The strength to keep trying when we haven’t seen success yet is a sacred gift. I hope that you will have countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, sacred, sacred gifts
Posted in Inspiration, spirituality | 5 Comments »
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
I realized this morning that I have been so focused on trying to heal that, except for praying for other people, all of my prayer focus has been on asking the Lord to restore my health. My physical therapist twice said to me that maybe something good would come of my ordeal. When he said that, I didn’t see how any good could come of this experience that I call my “lick of Hell.” Today I decided to start praying that some good will come from my pain and that the Lord will reveal it to me.
That prayer made me think about the ways that God reveals himself to us. M. Scott Peck, M.D., author of the best-selling book The Road Less Traveled, said, “I’ve had all kinds of experiences with God in terms of revelation through a still, small voice or dreams or coincidences.” I think of that still, small voice as words that the Lord speaks directly into our hearts. I am praying that God will speak into my heart and show me how this difficult experience can be a gift for me to use to help others.
We each see and hear God’s voice in our own way. How has God revealed himself to you? What gifts do you have that He has revealed to you?
The revelation of God to His people is a sacred gift. May you be blessed with countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, sacred, sacred gifts
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Saturday, July 24th, 2010
O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.
(Psalm 30:2)
As I work through twelve exercise sessions a day the thought of healing is always on my mind. I work toward healing and I pray for it. Given my nature, I am impatient for it. The thought of waiting months, maybe longer, is discouraging. Unfortunately, work and prayer are all I can do to try to achieve full healing. I don’t know that I ever will, but I am going to try as hard as I can.
As I try to heal I fight another demon, the demon of negative thoughts. These thoughts are of the “Woe is me!” and “What if I never am made right?” variety. Sometimes it is very difficult to not have “diseased thoughts.” Zacharty Bercovitz, (1895 -1984), was an American doctor who wrote, “Some patients I see are actually draining into their bodies the diseased thoughts of their minds.”
I think the battle for healing is fought in the mind as much as in the body and the soul. That’s why I pray not only that all people who are injured or sick will be healed, but that they will each have a sense of peace.
Peacefulness in healing is a sacred gift. May you be blessed with countless sacred gifts.
Tags: child, God, healing, sacred, sacred gifts
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Sunday, July 18th, 2010
How many doors have you opened in your life? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands?
For some reason I have been thinking about doors. Opening doors. Choosing the right doors. Closing doors. Having doors closed on me. Wishing a door to something I want would magically open in front of me.
When I first started thinking about doors, I thought of physical doors. Those doors can keep us safe or shut us out. They can lead us to work, play, prayer. They can be heavy or so light a child can open them.
Then, I realized that the most important doors are psychological, not physical. They are the doors to our hopes and dreams. When they close, we can feel alone, sad, angry, confused, frustrated. We know what we want, what we need. Then, despite our best efforts, the door is slammed in our face.
That’s when I think of this saying,
“When God closes a door, He opens a window.”
It is hard, though, to accept the closing of a door in our lives. We can spend so long looking at the closed door and trying to open it that we don’t see the light coming through the window. We long for what we can’t have and try to hold on to what is gone. When we do this, we can’t see the good things that are waiting for us.
Instead we should rest on the Lord and pray to understand what He is showing us through the window. Pray for the patience to wait for another door to open. When this door does open, you will understand that the doors behind you had to close so that you could walk through this new door.
A few months ago I saw this quote on a poster.
“Just when the caterpillar thought the end of
the world had come, he became a butterfly.”
I hope that, when doors close for each of us, we find something even more wonderful through the doors that open. Open doors and the patience to wait for them are sacred gifts.
May your blessings be many, your worries few.
I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: butterfly, God, sacred, sacred gifts
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Saturday, June 26th, 2010
A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
I have been thinking about steps constantly. I am using a walker in the house and trying to learn to use a cane. So far walking forty steps is a small victory. Of course, I am impatient to be back to normal. Will I ever be totally recovered? I don’t know. I do know that eventually I will be functioning as I did before the accident. Of course, I am impatient for recovery to happen NOW. Waiting and struggling reduces me to tears, but that too shall pass.
I have to keep reminding myself of these words:
“Life is a series of steps. Things are done gradually. Once in a while there is a giant step, but most of the time we are taking small, seemingly insignificant steps on the stairway of life.”
(Ralph Ransom)
Thinking of life as a series of steps helps me to remember that victory is reaching the top of the stairway and the only way to do that is one step at a time. It also helps to read Helen Steiner Rice’s words:
“No matter how steep the mountain –
the Lord is going to climb it with (me).”
Being able to take even one step is a sacred gift.
May your blessings be many, your worries few. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, patience, sacred, sacred gifts
Posted in Inspiration, spirituality | 4 Comments »
Friday, June 18th, 2010
Waiting is woven into the fabric of our lives. We wait in lines. We wait for phone calls. We wait for job offers. We wait for babies to be born. We wait for healing from heartbreak or illness. We wait for answers to questions that we don’t even know how to ask. We wait for so many things, from the boringly mundane to the sublimely beautiful.
We wait for the answers to the big questions. Where is my life going? Where do I want it to go? Can I possibly get there? How? In the midst of these questions I remember the words of Jeremiah ( 29:11-13):
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
As I remember these words I pray:
“Dear Lord, help me to trust in You while I wait for the fulfillment of your plans for me.
Help me to feel You standing at my side.
Help me to hear Your voice whispering in my ear.
Help me to seek you with all my heart.”
Believing in God’s plan is a sacred gift.
May your blessings be many, your worries few. I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, prayer, sacred, sacred gifts
Posted in Inspiration, spirituality | 2 Comments »
Sunday, June 13th, 2010
I have sometimes wondered if coincidences are just God’s way of getting our attention. I experienced one this week. On Wednesday my physical therapist came. He is amazingly wonderful because he ministers to both my body and my spirit. I told him I was having the same problems physically and was also feeling down. He told me that I needed to control my “stinking thinking” in order to heal.
Two days later I opened my e-mail. There was a message from Kimberly Floyd (kimf@takebackyourtemple.com) As always her words spoke directly to me. She wrote, “When it comes to taking back your health, the biggest obstacle to overcome is what motivational speaker,Zig Ziglar, calls ’stinking thinking.’ Those negative thoughts make you feel defeated, discouraged, and depressed – all those ‘d’ words!” Obviously, I need to pay close attention to all my thoughts.
In Ephesians 4:23, we are told that we need “to be made new in the attitude of (our) minds.” Of course this is easier said than done. The problem is that positive thinking is conscious while negative thinking (stinking thinking) is unconscious.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993) made the concept of positive thinking famous in his book, The Power of Positive Thinking. Most importantly, he showed us the tool to use to practice positive thinking. He wrote: ”through prayer you … make use of the great factor within yourself, the deep subconscious mind … [which Jesus called] the kingdom of God within you … Positive thinking is just another term for faith.”
The ability to pray positive thinking into your life is a sacred gift.
May your blessings be many,
your worries few.
I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, prayer, sacred, sacred gifts
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Monday, June 7th, 2010
Since I had my accident, I have watched far more television than I have ever watched before. It fills the time and distracts me from my pain and worries. I shouldn’t be amazed, but I confess I was the other morning when I was watching a movie . It was as though the Lord was speaking directly to me. As he was preparing to leave to serve in World War II, a young minister said to his girlfriend, “God never forgets to answer our prayers. Sometimes we just don’t like the answers.” Those words were words I should say to myself frequently.
The minister went on to say that we should turn our lives over to God and pray, “Not my will, but Thine.” That is not always easy to do. I read a devotional by Katherine Kehler (todays-thought@thoughts-about-god.com) Just like the movie dialogue her Morning Prayer spoke to me. She prayed:
“I realize now that my discouragement can be because of the lack of trusting You.
This day, Lord, I pray that You will enable me to trust You each time a problem arises.
Whenever I get stressed, remind me to turn my eyes on You and Your sufficiency.
My help comes from You, Lord. Amen.”
The ability to trust the Lord when we have a problem is a sacred gift.
May your blessings be many,
your worries few.
I wish you countless sacred gifts.
Tags: God, prayer, sacred, sacred gifts, trust
Posted in Inspiration, spirituality | 2 Comments »
