Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends! Hope you all had a great day today! It was so hot out, didn't get that much done, but did manage to pick a few strawberries, and dug some Yukon gold potatoes, nice big ones!! How fun that is to get into the dirt and get out those precious potatoes! Pulling the plant already has most of the potatoes on it, and then there's about a couple more in the ground yet - love it! I just dug about 4 plants. Two good sized potatoes got on the grill tonight with corn on cob! Made a cucumber salad with our cukes. It was wonderful! Pretty much a free meal. Left over chicken. Tonight we had a Dominican Nun from Nashville to give a talk at Church on Evangelization - it was very good. We were asked to serve the coffee and treats, and I mentioned it to Ray and Ann on the phone that we serve tonight and here they were there to help us! Thank you, Jesus, for such wonderful friends!

Enthusiasm will be yours if you love God, love people, and love life.
Lord, the nearer I follow Your way, the happier I become.

Scripture for the day:

"My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith
might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. Yet among the
mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of
the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God's
wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our
glory." ~1 Corinthians 2:4-7

Meditation for the day:

In these times of quiet meditation, we can try more and more to set our
hopes on the grace of God. We can know that whatever the future may
hold, it can hold more and more of good. We need not set all our hopes
and desires on material things. There can be weariness in an abundance
of things. We can set our hopes on spiritual things so that we may grow
spiritually. We can learn to rely on God's power more and more and in
that reliance we can have an insight into the greater value of the
things of the spirit.

A Prayer

O God, I vow and consecrate to You all that is in me:
My memory and my actions to God the Father;
My understanding and my words to God the Son;
My will and my thoughts to God the Holy Spirit;
My heart and my body, my tongue, my senses and all my sorrows
to the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ,
Who was content to be betrayed into the hands of wick ed men
and to suffer the torment of the Cross.

(St Francis de Sales)

Don´t Give Them Vinegar

The preacher placed two identical jars on the table next to the pulpit.

He quoted 1 Samuel 16:7 'The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

"These jars came from the same factory, were made of the same materials, and
can hold the same amount. But they are different," he explained. Then he
upset one and it oozed out honey. He turned over the other, and vinegar
spilled out.

"When a jar is upset, whatever is in it comes out. Until the jars were
upset, they looked alike. The difference was within, and could not be seen.
When they were upset, their contents were revealed. Until we are upset we
put on a good front. But when we are upset, we reveal our innermost thoughts
and attitudes, for 'out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.'"
(Luke 6:45)

What if someone tipped you over today??

What would flow out??

Would you reveal the "honey" of grace and patience, or the "vinegar" of
anger and sarcasm?

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of
sins." (1Peter 4:8)

Have a terrific day knowing that the one who upsets you may be just looking
for some honey - Don't give them vinegar!

Is God Dancing On Your Potato Chips?

Not too long ago I had "one of those days." I was feeling pressure from a
writing deadline. I had company arriving in a couple days and the toilet was
clogged. I went to the bank, and the trainee teller processing my deposit
had to start over three times. I swung by the supermarket to pick up a few
things and the lines were serpentine.

By the time I got home, I was frazzled and sweaty and in a hurry to get
something on the table for dinner. Deciding on Campbell's Cream of Mushroom
soup, I grabbed a can opener, cranked open the can, then remembered I had
forgotten to buy milk at the store. Nix the soup idea. Setting the can
aside, I went to plan "B", which was leftover baked beans. I grabbed the
Tupperware container from the fridge, popped the seal, took a look and
groaned. My husband isn't a picky eater, but even HE won't eat baked beans
that look like caterpillars.

Really frustrated now, I decided on a menu that promised to be as foolproof
as it is nutrition-free: hot dogs and potato chips. Retrieving a brand new
bag of chips from the cupboard, I grabbed the cellophane and gave a hearty
pull. The bag didn't open. I tried again. Nothing happened. I took a breath,
doubled my muscle, and gave the bag a hearty wrestle. With a loud pop, the
cellophane suddenly gave way, ripping wide from top to bottom. Chips flew
sky high. I was left holding the bag, and it was empty.

It was the final straw. I let out a blood curdling scream. "I CAN'T TAKE IT
ANYMORE!" My husband heard my unorthodox cry for help. Within minutes he was
standing at the doorway to the kitchen, where he surveyed the damage: an
opened can of soup, melting groceries, moldy baked beans, and one quivering
wife standing ankle deep in potato chips. My husband did the most helpful
thing he could think of at the moment. He took a flying leap, landing
flat-footed in the pile of chips. And then he began to stomp and dance and
twirl, grinding those chips into my linoleum in the process!

I stared. I fumed. Pretty soon I was working to stifle a smile. Eventually I
had to laugh. And finally I decided to join him. I, too, took a leap onto
the chips. And then I danced. Now I'll be the first to admit that my
husband's response wasn't the one I was looking for. But the truth is, it
was exactly what I needed. I didn't need a cleanup crew as much as I needed
an attitude adjustment, and the laughter from that rather funky moment
provided just that.

So now I have a question for you, and it's simply this: Has God ever stomped
on your chips? I know that, in my life, there have been plenty of times when
I've gotten myself into frustrating situations and I've cried out for help,
all the while hoping God would show up with a celestial broom and clean up
the mess.

What often happens instead is that God dances on my chips, answering my
prayer in a completely different manner than I had expected, but in the
manner that is best for me after all. Sometimes I can see right away that
God's response was the best one after all. Sometimes I have to wait weeks or
months before I begin to understand how and why God answered a particular
prayer the way he did. There are even some situations that, years later, I'm
still trying to understand. I figure God will fill me in sooner or later,
either this side of Heaven or beyond.

Do I trust Him? Even when he's answering my prayers in a way that is
completely different from my expectations? Even when he's dancing and
stomping instead of sweeping and mopping:? Can I embrace what He's offering?
Can I let His joy adjust my attitude? Am I going to stand on the sidelines
and sulk, or am I willing to learn the steps of the dance he's dancin' with
my needs in mind? I'll be honest with you: Sometimes I sulk. Sometimes I
dance. I'm working on doing more of the latter than the former. I guess the
older I get the more I realize that He really does know what He's doing. He
loves me and I can trust Him. Even when the chips are down.

Author Unknown

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may not be overwhelmed by material things. I pray that I
may realize the higher value of spiritual things.

PRAYER WHEN YOU FEEL THANKFUL FOR YOUR FRIENDS

O God, I know there is nothing so precious as friendship and nothing
so rich as love.
Thank you for all my friends.
Thank you for all the people I have met, with whom I have worked,
with whom I have talked, and with whom I ate.
Thank you for all the friends with whom I have listened
To music, played games or watched movies.
Thank you for those who are even closer to me than my friends,
those whom I love and those who love me.
Help me always to be loyal to my friends
and true to those who love me. Amen.