Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends! Hope your day went well. I was gone all day, but I could keep in touch through the tablet - never could do that before, so that is a blessing!! It was a good day, didn't sell anything, but it's always good to be with Lori and see her clients. She bought me a cappuccino that was so good - it was white chocolate mocha! I prepared the inspirations with my tablet, but will post them here on the computer. Praying for all you've asked prayers for.

Choose the direction of your day and then make a point of enjoying your
choices.
Lord, help me to do what I can when I can, but also, help me to know when
doing
nothing is the better choice.

S C R I P T U R E F O R T H E D A Y
3
"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am
gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my
yoke is easy, and my burden is light." ~Matthew 11:28-30

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

In our times of meditation we can seem to hear: "Come to me, all you that
are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Again
and again we can seem to hear God saying this to us. "Come to me" for the
solution of every problem, for the overcoming of every temptation, for the
calming of every fear, for all our needs ... physical, mental or spiritual,
but mostly "come to me" for the strength we need to live with peace of mind
and the power to be useful and effective.

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

I pray that I may go to God today for those things which I need to help me
live. I pray that I may find real peace of mind.

SEASON'S MEETINGS
Author Unknown


SEASON'S MEETINGS

Each year we ring in the holiday season by attending dozens of holiday
meetings. This Christmas committee, that planning event. Then we still
have to make the rounds to every store in the metro-plex. 'Tis the
season for weeks of ulcer inducing meetings and shopping, then
wrapping for about 72 straight hours. Christmas morning I find myself
sitting around the tree with a glazed look and half a roll of tape
stuck in my hair.

I stack three stories of gifts in front of each child. Within ten
minutes we're up to our eyeballs in wrapping paper. I have five
children. That's five three-story gift stacks and about 1200 yards of
wrapping paper. Last year it took us three days to find the cat.

I was scanning for Christmas sales when I ran across an Internet ad:
"100 FREE HOURS!" That's it! That's what I want for Christmas! Not the
Internet service--just the hours. My holiday calendar could make grown
men weep.

Even if we can't have a chestnut or two roasting on an open fire, it
seems we should at least be able to find time for some popcorn popping
in the microwave. Visions of sugarplums? I don't think so. There
hasn't been a silent night around our place since the season began.

Maybe we're being sucked in to the idea that we need to "super size"
the holidays the same way we're tempted to upgrade every fast food
lunch. We convince ourselves that to have a socially complete
Christmas, we need to super-size our schedules--adding more, spending
more, eating more. I'm popping Tums just thinking about it.

But let's take a look at the big Christmas picture. Jesus didn't come
into the world so that we could enjoy a nice story about a reindeer.
He didn't come so that our kids could put on a cute play.

Christ was born so that through his sacrificial death, we could be
reconciled to a holy God. Emmanuel, "God With Us," came to pay our sin
debt. Christmas is not for making us overworked and overwhelmed, but
for celebrating how we have been made overcomers.

The season becomes a real celebration when we learn to rest in the
faithful hands of the One who has overcome the world. Guess what we
find when we rest in him: Peace! Jesus said in John 16:33, "...in me
you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world." The Lord has done the
overcoming on our behalf. He's the one who
gives peace. The only thing we truly need to work for is the resting
ability.

If your holiday schedule is keeping you up nights and you'd like a
little sleep in heavenly peace, maybe 'tis the season for saying some
"no's"--for sanity's sake. As for that Internet ad, if someone could
actually give me those extra 100 hours, what would I do with them?
Would I cram them to the brim with more activities? The truth is that
we have loads of time--24 hours every day. Focusing 24/7 on the God
who provided Christmas is the way to find a fulfilling holiday
season.

I've decided to take time to stop and smell the poinsettias- -and find
the cat.

Going God's Way


I arise today, equipped and
fortified to meet life's
problems, with :

GOD's WISDOM
to guide me.

GOD's PROVIDENCE
to look after me.

GOD's UNDERSTANDING
to hear me.

GOD's COUNSEL
to speak to me.

GOD's FORTITUDE
to guard me.

GOD's WAY
of life before me.

GOD's POWER
to protect me.

GOD's LOVE
to save me.

If I Were a Christmas Tree

I'd
like
to be a
Christmas
tree with pres-
ents all around;
with golden ropes,
and silver
tinsel hanging
to the ground. I'd
trim my boughs with
crystal balls of red and blue
and white, and watch them glow
and catch the gleam of every Christmas
light. I'd wrap myself in
candy canes and popcorn balls,
and such. And, last, I'd have a shining
angel for my crowning touch! Then early
Christmas morn when little ones, with shouts
of joy, rush in to see and claim and treasure every
wondrous toy, I'd lean my boughs to brush up close and
touch each child like this, and place upon each shining cheek my
loving
Christmas
kiss!

—Bonnie Compton Hanson

Mother Teresa Said...

Prayer unites us with Christ.
Simply open your hearts to Him.
Also, simply accept what He sends you. With a big smile, generously give Him what He asks of you.
God will do the rest, never fear.

<br />

Meditations by Padre Pio

The Spirit of God is a Spirit of peace and even in the most serious faults He makes us feel a sorrow that is tranquil, humble, and confident and this is precisely because of His mercy.

The spirit of the devil, instead, excites, exasperates and makes us feel, in that very sorrow, anger against ourselves, whereas we should on the contrary be charitable with ourselves first and foremost.

Therefore, if any thought agitates you, this agitation never comes from God, who gives you peace, being the Spirit of Peace, but from the devil.

The Spirit of God is a Spirit of peace and even in the most serious faults He makes us feel a sorrow that is tranquil, humble, and confident and this is precisely because of His mercy.

The spirit of the devil, instead, excites, exasperates and makes us feel, in that very sorrow, anger against ourselves, whereas we should on the contrary be charitable with ourselves first and foremost.

Therefore, if any thought agitates you, this agitation never comes from God, who gives you peace, being the Spirit of Peace, but from the devil.

[lovestopaint]

That Cappuccino sure sounds good Gloria.

My neighbor is doing well they even gave him something to eat last evening, you know the old broth and Jello but it's better then ice chips. Bernie and Joan both thank you so much for your prayers.

Counting my blessings and blessings to all.

Harlene(lovestopaint)

[pinky ann]

Harlene: Glad to hear Bernie is doing well. I hope he'll be home for Christmas.

Gloria: Have a good trip! Please don't worry about the thread, it'll be fine.

Lucy: I finished my puzzle yesterday! I'd never done them until the past year or two, but hoped it would be a challenge for my mind, rather than the computer game site. I hope to learn patience from it too, as it's one thing I often have in a very limited supply.

Not much planned for today so far. It seems we had just a little freezing rain last night, as the steps to the deck were slick this morning. It's the same grey sky we've had for nearly two weeks now. I give up..... sigh...... Maybe we'll have some sun for Christmas. pinky

[gloriajean]

Harlene - great news about Bernie! Prayers work and continue. How's your back and foot behaving? Pinky Ann - Thank you and I won't worry about the thread because it's in good hands - all of yours! It's nice to just be able to post here and visit with all of you.. Emailing too will be great while gone. Have a great day - sounds like your weather is ishy out today. Blue/Julie - nice pictures, but I miss your posts too! How are you, dear? You've been gone for a while, and you've been missed. Just wanted you to know that. Hope you're not too sore.

[HeresLucy]

Good afternoon!

I stopped for a minute to eat a sandwich so I thought I'd drop by. In the process of cleaning house and the stupid vacuum stopped. Apparently I went over some Christmas ornament hangers and they were gnarled all up in the roller. Don't you hate when that happens?!!! lol

Gloria, glad you've got the hang of your tablet. I don't know if you've said but is Lori going with y'all to Darla's?

Harlene, good news about Bernie. I hope this gets him to feeling better.

Pinky, It didn't take long for you to finish the puzzle. I like the word find puzzles but have no patience for anything else. Go figure! lol Hope Mr Sun peeks out before long. I know the dreary gray days get tiring.

Julie, I hope your Tn trip was an enjoyable one. I love TN. Hope your treatments are just the thing to make you better. The pictures are lovely, thanks for sharing.

I'm procrastinating. Sandwich was eaten up 5 minutes ago. This bag of Fritos sitting right beside isn't helping the situation either. lol I best get up and put it back in the kitchen, outta sight, outta mind, outta mouth! lol

Y'all have a great day. God bless you.

[HeresLucy]

I forgot to post that my son is coming down Sunday for a few days. Will y'all say a prayer for his safety? Thanks

Now....the corn chips are leaving the area.

[HeresLucy]

[HeresLucy]

This may not last but what the heck...I'm posting it anyway.

[gloriajean]

On 12/19/2014 Bluegrassbaby said:

~Gloria~I was going to email you just the other day, but noticed another email address for you when I was reading the daily inspirations. I also received some from Nadine....so should I continue to email you at charter?

Keeping you in my prayers for your safe travels to Texas and back....have a wonderful Christmas!

I'll catch you up on my adventures in the email.....DH and I took a mini trip to TN and then I had to come back and start the Psoriasis treatments.

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas....(((Harlene)))

~Julie~

JULIE - Nadine is the one in Finland who takes over my list whenever I'm gone - has she started already? She has my whole list and takes care of it - and what a blessing that is for me! Sometimes I need to send some parts of my list from my msn account, that's why you see another email address. You can keep on with the charter account, but I also get mail on the msn account too. Hopefully you will get relief from that psoriasis.

[gloriajean]

Lucy - you make me laugh! Get rid of all that junk food now!! You bet Lori is going along to Texas for Christmas - it wouldn't be Christmas without her! We have always all been together for Christmas Eve. Also she can help Linus drive. I don't drive, and with 2 dogs along, she'll be a help! Typing this at work. Works out well. Praise be Jesus!