Daily Positive Thread for Friday

gloriajean — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:29:58 GMT

No one can live for himself alone for then he will have no purpose in life.
To give
of self is one of life's greatest joys and blesses us with a full and rich
life. Lord, help
me to be selfless and loving to those around me.

Scripture for the day:

"O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds
among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his
wonderful works. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who
seek the LORD rejoice. Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his
presence continually." ~Psalm 105:1-4

Meditation for the day:

We can seek God early in the day, before God gets crowded out by life's
problems, difficulties or pleasures. In that early quiet time we can
gain a calm, strong confidence in the goodness and purpose in the
universe. We need not seek God only when the world's struggles prove
too much and too many for us to bear or face alone. We can seek God
early, when we can have a consciousness of God's spirit in the world.
Sometimes we seek God only when our difficulties are too great to be
surmounted in any other way, forgetting that if we sought God's
companionship before we needed it, many of our difficulties would never
arise in the first place!

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may not let God be crowded out by the busyness of life.
I pray that I may seek God early and often.

Greetings my friends! Hope you all had a very good day! It was Linus' day
off - and in our card club the couple we are scheduled to play this month
wanted us to play this morning at 9:00 Am, that is because he worked nights
and has to be at work at 3 PM, so we played them at 9 and we won! It was
such a nice, pleasant time there, we've met so many really nice people thru
this card club. After that a nap was in order - tonight I called two of my
sisters, Erma is still quite sore, is till hoping she can go to that Church
luncheon on Saturday, also called Ethel, and she told me that Sister LaDonna
called her to tell her to call her after 8 because she's going to Choir
practice!! Wow! So she was going to call her right after we hung up.
Sister LaDonna is so busy there! Her Physical Therapy is over now - she can
walk better, but with the walker or behind the wheelchair. The wheelchair is
handy to haul stuff in because her walker doesn't have a basket. I'm
thankful I have my sisters yet to be able to talk to them on the phone. Got
a blessing early cute Christmas card from Darla today - and in it a nice
picture of her and Greg.

Homily of the Day

December 1, 2011

The Invulnerable City
by Food For Thought

First Reading: Isaiah 26:1-6
Psalm: Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 19-21, 25-27
Gospel: Matthew 7:21, 24-27

The first reading is a hymn Isaiah wrote for choral groups, for communities,
and for nations to sing. He included in it no arias to be rendered by
individuals or by soloists. In it he peers into the future, gazes into the
Messianic age and there, envisions the population of Jerusalem joyously
acclaiming the protective strength of the city’s walls and ramparts. They
are impregnable walls and invulnerable ramparts built by the Lord and able
to repel the fiercest assaults.

In the gospel today, Jesus is bringing the Sermon on the Mount to a close.
In the Sermon he has talked about his values, how they bring us beyond the
spirituality of the Old Testament, and how they contradict the values of the
world in which we live. The beatitudes are dazzling; they startle us, and
turn the world’s values on their head. The traditional commandments, seen
new by Christ, free us from legalism. It allows our hearts to soar to new
heights in our efforts to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect.

Before he closes his sermon, Jesus brings us down and sets our feet firmly
on the ground with his parable of the house built on sandy soil and the
house built on rock. Singing the praises of Jesus’ teaching, admiring its
beauty and at the insights it provides us, in itself is building on sandy
soil. We hit hard rock when we live his teachings in everything we do each
day.

Advent is a time for us to prepare ourselves to meet the Lord on Christmas,
to examine our values and our value-systems, and to ask ourselves is there
need to reorganizing our priorities. It is also the time to ask ourselves if
Christ’s values are evident to others in every act we perform each day.

Advent is also the time for us, as a community and as a nation, to review
and reprioritize our national values, and to ask ourselves if God’s values
are evident in the way we run our country.

God and Christ and their values are the rock on which we build our Christian
lives.

PRAYER
“Lord, you are my Rock and my Refuge. Help me to conform my life according
to your word that I may stand firm in times of trouble and find hope in your
promises.”

Keep Christ In Christmas

It isn't Xmas, but Christmas

For that's the day Christ came.

When you take Christ out of Christmas

You cross out life's best name.

I wonder why they cross out Christ,

The best that God could give.

I wonder why they've forgotten.

That we for Him should live.

Why take Christ's name out of Christmas?

For He came to set us free.

If we had Christmas without Christ

How hopeless we would be.

Why, is it ~ that they cross out Christ,

The greatest gift of all?

Why, is it ~ that nobody cares

Or listens to His call?

To me - X stand for nothing,

Then why, cross His name out?

To me - Christ means everything

He took away my doubt.

I'll never try to shame my Lord,

I'll keep His name in place;

Then when life here below is over,

I'll see Him face to face.

Let us all, .KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS.

Love and serve Him this year.

It isn't Xmas but it's Christmas,

Ring it out, loud and clear

author unknown

I WAS NOTHING
Anonymous

Jesus...
I had nothing till I met you
My life was worthless
Just like a piece of clay
Laying on the ground before your feet.
But you came and picked me up.
You saw the beauty in me,
The beauty you alone saw...
only you..no one else, not even me.
You placed me in front of you,
And saw what you could make out of me.
You then got ready
And started working into my life.
You worked your loving hands so gently
And made sure I wouldn't get hurt.
You molded me to an image of you
And breathed life into my soul.

You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Psalm 139:5

Bird’s Eye View

Don’t you love the feeling of being ‘on top of the world’? Everything
seems to be going j-u-s-t right. Gotta love those times.

Yesterday when I parked at the lot on my way into the grocery store I
looked up at the extraordinary blue. What a day. One of those chamber-
of-commerce afternoons where the spring green of the trees met the
deep clear sundrenched sky. On the highest part of a tall streetlight,
a mockingbird was comfortably perched. Just checking it out, taking a
rest. There he was, on top of the world.

Most days we aren’t on those mountain-peak highs, we live in the
valley of life. Everyday life, the normal, the ups, the downs. Often
those times are a little harder for me to like. Could be a season
where you feel your world is unraveling and you are hanging by a
thread, like this butterfly to the leaf. You may be barely holding on,
waiting for the tide to turn. I’ve heard people voice questions, “So
where was God anyway? Why did He let it happen?”, “God didn’t answer
my prayers about that”.

Here is some good news: no matter what it seems like, no matter what
is going on, God is still sovereign. He is still in the midst, keeping
every one of His promises (something like 7,000 of them in the Bible).
He’s not distant, He’s not uncaring nor uninvolved. He is a personal
God, wanting the best for His children and a close relationship with
them.

The Word of the Lord is truth, and here are a few verses that you can
count on to help to gain a ‘bird’s eye view’ perspective:

Psalm 97:9 For you, O Lord, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
1 Chronicles 29:11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and
the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven
and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as
head over all.
Isaiah 37:16 "O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the
cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You
have made heaven and earth.
Psalm 73:28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. ?I have made
the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.
1 Chronicles 16:31 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!"

PRAYER WHEN IN SUFFERING
Jesus, speak to me in these days of suffering to reveal to me, the will of
God. "You have kept count of my tossing; put my tears in your bottle."
(Psalm 56:8). "This I know, that God is for me" (Psalm 56:9). Come to my
help soon. Cut short the days of suffering. Deliver me from the present
adversities. Grant me long life and health to praise you in peace. Lift me
up to become a witness for you. Thank you Jesus. Praise you Jesus.
Hallelujah. (Praise God for 5 minutes to know the will of God in your
sufferings. Thus you will receive the strength and grace to suffer. God
willing, you will get immediate deliverance.)

Prayer in time of need

Jesus, do not leave me alone in suffering.
You know, Lord, how weak I am.
I am an abyss of wretchedness,
I am nothingness itself;
So what will be so strange
If You leave me alone and I fall?

I am an infant, Lord,
So I cannot get along by myself.
However, beyond all abandonment I trust,
And in spite of my own feeling I trust,
And I am being completely transformed into trust,
Often in spite of what I feel.

Do not lessen any of my sufferings,
Only give me strength to bear them.
Do with me as You please, Lord,
Only give me the grace to be able to love You,
In every event and circumstances.

Lord, do not lessen my cup of bitterness,
Only give me strength
That I may be able to drink it all. Amen. (Diary, 1489)

Good night my friends - sweet dreams and may you all have a very blessed
Friday! Have a good weekend and God bless you!

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Daily Positive Thread for Friday