Daily Positive Thread for Friday

gloriajean — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:30:21 GMT

Each morning gives us one more chance to pray, one more chance to help
another and one more chance to make this a better world. Lord, thank you
for working in and through everything.

Scripture for the day:

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard;
and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the
gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this
fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the
soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around
it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if
not, you can cut it down.'" ~Luke 13:6-9

Meditation for the day:

Like a tree, it is best for me to be pruned of a lot of dead branches so I
can be ready to bear good fruit. I can think of changed people as trees
which have been stripped of their old branches, pruned, cut and bare. But
through the dark, seemingly dead branches flows silently, secretly, the new
sap, until with the sun of spring, comes new life.
There are new leaves, buds, blossoms and fruit, many times better because of
the pruning. I am in the hands of God, a master gardener, who makes no
mistakes in pruning.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may cut away the dead branches of my life. I pray that I may
not mind the pruning since it helps me to bear good fruit later.

Hello my friends! It was a good day - My husband and two of his brothers
worked on Lori's house - her basement under the steps, making shelves and
storage places. They will finish tomorrow and she's so pleased at how it's
turning out!! He got home in plenty time for us to go out to eat at our fav
restaurant - we haven't been there for two months. Had a real nice visit
with Jim there again. He just got home from being in Greece and Iran on
business. His son, Nima, is getting better but still not able to work yet,
maybe another month, he thought. Remember he's a waiter at Jim's restaurant.
I had their wonderful chicken oriental salad, better than Applebees, and
more nutritious. Nothing partially hydrogenated there, pure olive oil etc.
and it's delicious. Jim wanted to know the highlights of our 50 years of
knowing each other, well, I thought Our Wedding, Linus thought the birth of
our girls - all highlights.
It was a very nice, peaceful and positive day today! Praise and thanks be
to Our Lord!

Be Like Jesus

The life of the Christian consists in stripping
oneself of the vices of the man of this world
and in clothing oneself in the virtues
which Jesus Christ taught.

from Quiet Moments With Padre Pio: 120 Daily Readings

MOST RICHLY BLESSED!

Sometimes I wonder when things go so wrong,
Has God forsaken and left me alone.

Then I remember to follow His quest,
He's always with me, I'm most richly blessed.

I asked for strength that I might achieve,
I was given weakness that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health that I might do great things,
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy,
I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men,
I was made weak that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life,
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I'd hoped for,
And almost despite myself, I am among men, MOST RICHLY BLESSED!

HE'S ALWAYS WITH ME, I AM MOST RICHLY BLESSED!

- Author Unknown

It's Time To Throw It Out...

Last week I threw out Worrying,
It was getting old and in the way.
It kept me from being me;
I couldn't do things my way.

I threw out those Inhibitions;
They were just crowding me out.
Made room for my New Growth,
Got rid of my old dreams and doubts.

I threw out a book on My Past
(Didn't have time to read it anyway).
Replaced it with New Goals,
Started reading it today.

I threw out childhood toys
Remember how I treasured them so?
Got me a New Philosophy too,
Threw out the one from long ago.

Bought in some new books too,
Called I Can, I Will, and I Must.
Threw out I might, I think and I ought.
Wow!, You should've seen the dust.

I picked up this special thing
And placed it at the front door.
I Found It - its called Peace
Nothing gets me down anymore.

Yes, I've got my house looking nice.
Looks good around the place
For things like Worry and Trouble
There just isn't any place.

Its good to do a little house cleaning,
Get rid of the old things on the shelf.
It sure makes things brighter.
Thank You God for cleaning up my-self.

- Author Unknown

TRUE REPENTANCE
Author Unknown

God... commanded all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30b).

True repentance is keenly painful, but very beneficial in
its results. Some people easily forget their period of repentance;
other never do. This is referring to the period when a person fully
feels what one has been. The Spirit of God allows Christians to lose
all memory of horrible pit and miry clay of sins out of which God has
delivered them. The apostle Paul never forgot what he was; and that
memory reminded him that he became what he "now is" by the
marvelous grace of God.

Repentance does not mean that you will never commit those
sins again. It means that you have, by God's grace, reached a place
where you do positively the other things. The only truly repentant
person, in the fullest analysis, is the person who allows God to deal
with what was wrong - sin.

Set your heart and mind toward God and let the holy light of
Jesus Christ search through every wrong and opening. The result will
be a marvelous readjustment of your whole life.

THE PARACHUTE
Author Unknown
Feb 9 2009

Charles Plum, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot
in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a
surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected & parachuted into enemy hands.
He was captured & spent six years in a Communist prison.

He survived that ordeal & now lectures about lessons learned from that
experience.

One day, when Plumb & his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at
another table came up & said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in
Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.

"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise &
gratitude. The man pumped his hand & said, "I guess it worked!"

Plumb assured him, "It sure did-if your 'chute hadn't worked, I
wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says,
'I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform-a
Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wondered
how many times I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk. I wondered
how many times I might have seen him & not even said good morning, how
are you or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot & he was
just a sailor.

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden
table in the bowels of the ship carefully weaving the shrouds &
folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the
fate of someone he didn't know. Now, Plumb asks his audience, 'Who's
packing your parachute?' Everyone has someone who provides what they
need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed
many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy
territory-he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his
emotional parachute, & his spiritual parachute."

He called on all these supports before reaching safety. His experience
reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie
ahead.

SUGGESTION: Recognize people who pack your parachute & strengthen
yourself to prevail through tough times.

A PRAYER WHEN YOU FEEL WORRIED AND UNCERTAIN

O Lord, each of us has fears that betray; worries that capture and shake
out our joy. We find ourselves in limbo because we are neither here nor
there. We are in a time of transition, of getting ready. Change and
chance surround us. Help us, O Lord, to return to your presence. Cause
us to find the point and purpose of each day. All we ask is that you keep
us on our feet so that we might walk with you. Bless us this night and
grant us rest. Amen.

O breathe on me, O breath of God,
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love the things you love,
And do what you would do.

O breathe on me, O breath of God,
Until my heart is pure,
Until my will is one with yours,
To do and to endure.

O breathe on me, O breath of God,
My will to yours incline,
Until this earthly part of me,
Glows with your fire divine.

O breathe on me, O breath of God,
So shall I never die,
But live with you the perfect life,
Of your eternity.

(Edwin Hatch)

- - -
John 20:21-22 - (Jesus said to the disciples) "Peace be with you. As the
Father sent me, so I send you." Then he breathed on them and said, "Receive
the Holy Spirit..."

May the Good Lord bless you, and give you all that you need, I ask this in
His Holy Name, Jesus. Amen.

topic Daily Positive Thread for Friday in Community Chat

Daily Positive Thread for Friday