Daily Positive Thread for Saturday

gloriajean · ‎03-10-2010

Hello my friends! This week went fast! Today we were blessed again with the presence of my cousin, Father Jerry, and he played the piano so beautifully! Had a nice long visit, and then Darla asked us to come over to help her with getting more Christmas things done, and we got her Nativity set out and she put it up above the fireplace. She will hose Christmas Eve. It was a nice time there.

No detail is too insignificant for God's attention. Lord, You encourage me daily

as You guide my humblest moments.

S C R I P T U R E   F O R   T H E   D A Y

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have
love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." ~1 Corinthians 13:1

M E D I T A T I O N   F O R   T H E   D A Y

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have
love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." Love means to care
enough about other people to really want to do something for them. A
smile, a word of encouragement, a word of love, goes winged on its way,
simple though it may seem, while the mighty words of an orator can fall
on deaf ears. We can use up the odd moments of our day in trying to do
some little thing to cheer up another person. Boredom can come from
thinking too much about ourselves.

P R A Y E R   F O R   T H E   D A Y

I pray that my day may be brightened by some little act of charity. I
pray that I may try today to overcome the self-centeredness that can
bore me.

A Christmas Season Challenge

To all mankind, a challenge...

Is the reason for Christmas: Christ or Santa Claus?

Who does your children have visions about?

In whose existence do they really have doubts?

Do they believe in a man who promises gifts and toys,
Who knows all the names of the bad girls and boys?

Do they know the story of the prophetic virgin birth
or what Christ's coming meant to a truth-starved earth?

Ask them to tell you the story of Christ,
Of some of the miracles that was wrought through his life.

Then ask them about a man with a sleigh and reindeer.
To recite you the fiction they so often hear.

I'm sure they can tell you where Santa Claus lives
And about all the toys they say that he gives.

But can they tell you that Christ died for their sin?
How He no longer walks on earth, but now lives within?

When toys and presents will no longer suffice and
they face real problems in everyday life,

When your children despair and need a touch from on high...
And they really need Christ, to whom will they cry?

Then God asks this question and demands that you pause,
"Do they call unto ME, or to the myth Santa Claus?"

Ready For Christmas

"Ready for Christmas," she said with a sigh,
As she gave a last touch to the gifts piled high.
Then wearily sat for a moment and read
Till soon, very soon, she was nodding her head.

Then quietly spoke a voice in her dream!
"Ready for Christmas! What do you Mean?
When only last week
You wouldn't acknowledge your friend on the street."

"Ready for Christmas, while holding a grudge!
Perhaps you better let God be the judge.
Why, how can the Christ child come and abide
In a heart that is selfish and filled with pride?"

"Ready for Christmas, when only today
A beggar lad came and you turned him away
Without even a smile to show that you cared!
So little he asked, he could have been spared."

"Ready for Christmas! You've worked, it is true,
But just doing the things that you wanted to do."
"Ready for Christmas, your circle's too small.
Why, you are not ready for Christmas at all."

She awoke with a start, and a cry of despair,
There's so little time, and I've still to prepare!
"Oh, Father, forgive me, I see what you mean;
To be ready means more than a house swept clean."

"Yes, more that the giving of gifts and a tree,
It's the heart swept clean that he wants to see,
A heart that is free from bitterness, sin,
Ready for Christmas means ready for Him!"

~~Unknown~~

The Straw in the Christmas Crib

When the shepherds of Bethlehem visited the Infant Jesus, one of the younger
boys took along some straw from the crib. "What have you got there in your
hand?" asked one of the shepherds.

"Just some straw from the crib where the baby was sleeping." "Straw?"
laughed the others. "That's just rubbish. Throw it away." The little boy
shook his head and said, "No. I'm keeping it. These pieces of straw remind
me of that baby, and what the angels said about him."

The next day the shepherds asked the boy, "Do you still have those pieces of
straw? You do? Look! Why don't you throw away that worthless stuff?" " No,
it is not worthless," said the little shepherd. "God's baby has slept on
it." "So what?" the others answered. "It's the baby that is important and
not the straw."

"That's where you're all wrong," explained the little shepherd. "This straw
IS worth something. If there were no straw in the crib, what could the poor
baby have slept on? No, this handful of straw tells me something. It tells
me that God makes use of small worthless things. God needs us, little
people, to help him do his work."

A Christmas Acronym

Barbara Alpert

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means, “God with us.” (Mathew 1:23)

Christ the Lord – born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger (Mathew 2:1, Luke 2:4-7)

Holy Night – an angel brings good news of great joy (Luke 2:8-12)

Redeemer – Savior of the world (John 3:16-18, 1 John 4:14-15)

Immanuel – God with us (Matthew 1:22-23, Isaiah 7:14)

Shepherds – went to see Him (Luke 2:15-16)

They spread the word – and all who heard were amazed (Luke 2:17-18)

Mary – found to be with child through the Holy Spirit (Mathew 1:18-21, Luke 1:26-35)

Angels – praising God (Luke 2:13-14)

Shining star – wise men saw the star and they were overjoyed (Mathew 2:1-10)

“On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” (Mathew 2:11)

Wow! What an amazing account of the wonderful birth of our beloved Savior. May we continually celebrate, worship, and honor Him for who He is and all He has done on our behalf.

Heavenly Father, May our hearts and minds be uncluttered by the hustle and bustle of this time of the year. May we bring…as a gift to you…wholehearted praise, worship, and honor. May our lives bring glory to your name. In Jesus’ name, Amen

Questions: What does Christmas mean to you? How do you celebrate the birth of Christ?

Advent Prayer

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ever faithful to your promises and ever close to your Church: the earth rejoices in hope of the Savior's coming and looks forward with longing to his return at the end of time. Prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which his presence will bestow, for he is Lord for ever and ever. Amen.

December 18 - Jesus Calling

When you are plagued by a persistent problem—one that goes on and on—view it as a rich opportunity. An ongoing problem is like a tutor who is always by your side. The learning possibilities are limited only by your willingness to be teachable. In faith, thank Me for your problem. Ask Me to open your eyes and your heart to all that I am accomplishing through this difficulty. Once you have become grateful for a problem, it loses its power to drag you down. On the contrary, your thankful attitude will lift you up into heavenly places with Me. From this perspective, your difficulty can be seen as a slight, temporary distress that is producing for you a transcendent Glory never to cease!

Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
—Isaiah 30:20–21

For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!].
—2 Corinthians 4:17 amp