Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Praise accomplishes great things. Lord, let me be your instrument
in touching lives and changing hearts.

Scripture for the day:

"If there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love,
any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy
complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full
accord and of one mind." Philippians 2:1-2

Meditation for the day:

There is great joy in living the spiritual life. A faith without joy
is not entirely genuine. If we are not happier as a result of our
faith, there is probably something wrong. Faith in God can bring us a
deep
feeling of happiness and security, no matter what happens on the
surface of our life. Each new day is another opportunity to serve God
and improve our relationships with other people. This can bring joy.
Life can be abundant and outreaching. It can be glowing and outgoing,
in ever widening circles.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that my horizons may grow ever wider. I pray that I may keep
reaching out for more service and companionship.

Hello my friends! We had a very rainy day here today! It made us sleepy
and took naps! Couldn't be outside at all, but we did go out to eat with
his siblings at a German restaurant about a half hour from here - kind of in
the middle of where we all live and his sisters had planned this from last
week, so we met at six there and had a good meal, and good fellowship and
they want to do this again sometime soon. I had roast beef smothered in
gravy with mashed potatoes and gravy and sweet and sour red cabbage, to die
for! It had stopped raining then so that was good. Also another blessing -
we went to Mass at the Cathedral at noon, Fr. Jerry was the presider, so
nice to see him! He gave a great Homily too. Today I really didn't do any
housework, so that's the plan tomorrow for sure! Gotta keep ahead of the
dust, right? Praying for all of your needs and pray you all have a very
blessed Thursday - and hope to see more of you post! For all of you who
just read - thank you! May God bless you all!

Right Now


What is wrong with right now? Nothing. Are there things you would like to
change? Of course. The beauty of right now is that it gives you a place to
start and the wisdom of knowing where to go.

There is nothing wrong with right now. It is a magnificent point in time.
Any problems you sense with this moment are based on your own
interpretation. Nothing is wrong unless you choose to make it so.

Choose instead to see and to live the rightness and the goodness of this
moment. Transcend the petty concerns which have held you back in the past.
Free yourself to live at your best.

Drink in the beauty and energy of right now. A world of possibilities
stretches out in front of you. They all begin right now. Life is already
filled with abundance, and right now is your chance to make it even better.

~ Ralph Marston ~

THE GIFT
Author Unknown
September 21, 2009


A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many
months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom,
and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all
he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his
father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his
graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father
told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how
much he loved him.

He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, but
somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a
lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in
gold.

Angry, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your
money you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the
Bible. Many years passed and the young man was very successful in
business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized
his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He
had not seen him since that graduation day.

Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him
his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his
son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things. When
he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his
heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and
saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears,
he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had
carefully underlined a verse, Matt. 7:11, "And if ye, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your
Heavenly Father which is in Heaven, give to those who ask Him?" As he
read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had
a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car
he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the
words PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not
packaged as we expected?



Narrative:

The shabbily dressed old lady with her basket on her arm hobbled down the
street toward the butcher shop, hoping to get a few leftover scraps of meat
for some soup. "Please God, don’t let me down," she prayed in her heart.

As she neared the butcher’s, she heard him remarking loudly for her benefit:
"Those are just the kind of customers I don’t need. I like people with ready
cash or a checkbook. I don’t give anything away for free."

The grandma entered the shop and told him, "I don’t want anything for free.
I always pay you. I always tell you: ‘May God repay you.’"

"Bah!" the butcher remarked. "Let’s write that ‘May God repay you’ on a
piece of paper, put it on the scale, and see what it is worth. Whatever it
weighs, I’ll give you in meat."

So he did – and the side with the paper on it went right down. Surprised, he
took a little piece of meat from the showcase and laid it on the opposite
side of the scale to balance it. Nothing happened. The scale did not move.
So he added more and more and more meat.

He had to keep his promise to equal the weight of that paper. He emptied his
whole butcher shop, and still the side of the scale with the paper written
"May God repay you" did not rise.

The little old lady chose only the meat she had come for. And the speechless
butcher was taught a lesson he never forgot: that the poor people’s "May God
repay you!" was worth more than all the money in his cash register.

DEVELOP THE RIGHT (SELF) ATTITUDE
Author Unknown


Here are 10 suggestions to help you develop and maintain a healthy
self-image. Read them slowly. Meditate on them regularly.

1. Hate your sin, but never hate yourself.

2. Be quick to repent.

3. When God gives you light, walk in it.

4. Stop saying negative things about yourself. God loves you and it's
wrong to hate what He loves. He has great plans for you, so you're in
conflict with Him when you speak negatively concerning your future.

5. Never be afraid to admit that you've made a mistake and don't
always assume that when things go wrong, it must be 'my fault'.

6. Don't meditate excessively on what you've done, right or wrong;
both of these activities keep your mind on you! Center your thoughts
on Christ.

7. Take good care of yourself physically. Make the best of what God
gave you to work with, but don't be obsessed with your appearance.

8. Never stop learning but don't allow your education to become a
point of pride. God doesn't use you because of what's in your head: He
uses you because of what's in your heart.

9. Realize that your talents are a gift, not something you have
manufactured yourself; never look down on people who can't do what you
do.

10. Don't despise your weaknesses they keep you dependent on God.

When and If:

"When we share laughter, there's twice the fun; when we share success, we
surpass what we have done. When we share problems, there's half the pain;
when we share tears, a rainbow follows rain.
When we share dreams, they become more real; when we share secrets, it's our
hearts we reveal.
If we share a smile, then our love shows; if we share a hug, then our love
grows.
If we share with someone on whom we depend, that person becomes family or
friend.
And what draws us closer and makes us all care, is not what we have, but the
things that we share."

Anonymous.

WINDOW THROUGH WHICH WE LOOK
Author Unknown

A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning while
they were eating breakfast, the young woman watched her neighbor
hanging wash outside. "That laundry is not very clean," she said.
"She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better
laundry soap."

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman
would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean
wash on the line and said to her husband,

"Look, she has learned how to wash correctly.I wonder who taught her
this."

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our
windows."

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others may depend on
the purity of the window through which we look.

A WALK IN THE RAIN
Author Unknown

She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful brown haired, freckled-faced
Image of innocence. Her Mom looked like someone from the Walton's or a
moment captured by Norman Rockwell. Not that she was old-fashioned. Her
brown hair was ear length with enough curl to appear natural. She had on a
pair of tan shorts and light blue knit shirt. Her sneakers were white with a
blue trim. She looked like a Mom. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain
that gushes over the tops of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the
Earth it has no time to flow down the spout. Drains in the nearby parking
lot were filled to capacity and some were blocked so that huge puddles made
lakes around parked cars. We all stood there under the awning and just
inside the door of the WalMart. We waited, some patiently, others irritated
because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rain
fall. I get lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt
and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child
come pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day. Her voice
was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in. "Mom,
let's run through the rain," she said.

"What?" Mom asked.

"Let's run through the rain!" she repeated.

"No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.

This young child waited about another minute and repeated her statement.
"Mom. Let's run through the rain."

"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.

"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl
said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get
wet?"

"Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you
said, "If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything!"

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but
the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few
minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say.

Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even
ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young
child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will
bloom into faith.


"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God lets us
get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said. Then off they ran. We
all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and
yes through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just
in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few believers who
screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. Perhaps
inspired by their faith and trust. I want to believe that somewhere down the
road in life, Mom will find herself reflecting back on moments they spent
together, captured like pictures in the scrapbook of her cherished memories.

Maybe when she watches proudly as her daughter graduates. Or as her Daddy
walks her down the aisle on her wedding day. She will laugh again. Her heart
will beat a little faster. Her smile will tell the world they love each
other.

But only two people will share that precious moment when they ran through
the rain believing that God would get them through. And Yes, I did. I ran. I
got wet. I needed washing.

To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the
heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1

Mother Teresa Said...
"The Eucharist is connected with the Passion. If Jesus had not established
the Eucharist we would have forgotten the crucifixion. It would have faded
into the past and we would have forgotten that Jesus loved us. There is a
saying that to be far away from the eyes is to be far away from the heart.