Hello my friends! Hope you all had a good Labor day today. Weather here was sunny and nice all day. We didn't go anywhere although we were invited to two places. Lori came over and we canned Basil Tomato Soups and Saurkraut! Got a lot done - picked all our collard and kale, blanched them for 2 minutes and put in bags to freeze for soups, hot dishes, or whatever I'm cooking, they will go in for added flavor and nutrition. There's some basil in there too. Nice to get the garage cleaned out again after the party!! But with the canning, there's a lot of clean up so I'll be doing that shortly after this thread. Hello to Go2Girl - thanks for posting! Darla and Greg should be on the plane now flying home again! What a party the girls did for us!! Wow! Today I've got a phone call from one of my cousins saying she had such a great time yesterday and thanks for inviting her! Linus brothers said it was great. We wouldn't want to change a thing and God blessed us abundantly!! Praise the Lord now and forever!
Many more things go right in a day than go wrong, but you will never
notice if that one trying moment becomes your focus. Lord, help me
make a conscious effort to see the richness of my life and live with
gratitude for all of its wonders.
Scripture for the day:
"When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the
face of the ground." ~Psalm 104:30
Meditation for the day:
We need not yield to weariness of the spirit. At times, the world's
cares and distractions can intrude and the spirit can become weak. At
times like this, we can carry on and soon the spirit will become
strong again. God's spirit is always with us, to replenish and renew.
None of us has ever sincerely sought God's help in vain. Physical
weariness and exhaustion make a time of rest and communion with God
more necessary. When we are overcome by temporary conditions which we
cannot control, we can keep quiet and wait for the power of the spirit
to flow back.
Prayer for the day:
I pray that I may not speak or act in the midst of emotional upheaval.
I pray that I may wait until the tempest is past.
Mother Teresa Said...
"One day at a meeting, I was asked to give a message.
So I told to people, "Husbands smile at your wives smile at your husbands
and children."
They could not understand how I was able to tell them this sort of thing.
"Are you married?" one of them asked.
"Yes", I replied "and sometimes I find it difficult to smile at Jesus
because He can be so demanding."
And it is true. By our vow of chastity we are married to Jesus."
Jesus, you have given everything, life, blood, all. Now it is my turn. I put
everything into the field also. The common soldier fights in the ordinary
lines, but the devoted one tries to be near the captain to share his fate.
This is the spirit of Christ.
We have a right to be happy and peaceful. We have been created for this - we
are born to be happy - and we can only find true happiness and peace when we
are in love with God; there is joy in loving God, great happiness in loving
Him.
To make sure that we do not forget, Jesus gave us the Eucharist as a
memorial of his love ... When you look at the Crucifix, you understand how
much Jesus loved you then, when you look at the Sacred Host you understand
how much Jesus loves you now."
Be happy in the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.
Be happy now and if you show through your actions that you love others,
including those who are poorer than you, you'll give them happiness, too. It
doesn't take much - it can be just giving a smile. The world would be a much
better place if everyone smiled more. So smile, be cheerful, be joyous that
God loves you.
Daily Prayer:
My dear Jesus,
too much have you done to oblige me to love you;
too great is the price you have paid to win my love.
Altogether too ungrateful would I be now,
if I loved you only a little,
or if I divided my heart between you and created things.
You have given me your blood and your life.
I want to detach myself from everything and to fix my affections on you
alone.
Of myself I am too weak to put this desire into act.
You have given me the desire; now give me the strength to fulfil it.
O Mary, my Mother, grant that from this day forward I may want nothing else
but God alone.
The Water
It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in
almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The
creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season
that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through. Every day, my
husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get
water to the fields.
Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering
plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone
off. If we didn't see some rain soon...we would lose everything.
It was on this day that I learned the only miracle I have seen with my own
eyes: I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when
I saw my six-year old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn't
walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious
purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great
task in mind...trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he
disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house.
I went back to making sandwiches; thinking that whatever task he had been
doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in
that slow purposeful stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an
hour: He would walk carefully to the woods, run back to the house.
Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of the house and
followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be seen...as he was
obviously doing important work and didn't need his Mommy checking up on
him). He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked; being very
careful not to spill the water he held in them...maybe two or three
tablespoons were held in his tiny hands.
I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his
little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose.
As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site. Several large
deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost
screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was
dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him...he didn't even move
as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn laying on the ground, obviously
suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great
effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy's hand. When the water
was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree.
I followed him back to the house; to a spigot that we had shut off the water
to. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out.
He knelt there, letting the drip drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup", as
the sun beat down on his little back.
And it came clear to me. The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the
hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of
not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me to help him. It took almost
twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began
the trek back, I was there in front of him. His little eyes just filled with
tears. "I'm not wasting", was all he said. As he began his walk, I joined
him...with a small pot of water from the kitchen.
I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I stood on the
edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known
working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face
began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops...and more
drops...and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was
weeping with pride. Some will probably say that this was all just a huge
coincidence. That miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain
sometime. And I can't argue with that...I'm not going to try. All I can say
is that the rain that came that day saved our farm...just like that actions
of one little boy saved another.
I don't know if anyone will read this...but I had to send it out. To honor
the memory of my beautiful Billy, who was taken from me much too soon....
But not before showing me the true face of God, in a little sunburned body.
---Author Unknown---
Finding God Within and Without
How do I find You God?
God is Love.
If you have ever loved,
If you have ever been loved,
You have experienced God
from Within and Without
God is Truth.
If you have ever told the truth,
If you have ever discovered Truth,
You have experienced God
from Within and Without
God is Beauty.
If you have ever helped to create something beautiful,
If you have ever witnessed beauty in any of it's myriad forms,
You have experienced God
from Within and Without
God is Good.
If you have ever done or thought something good,
If you have ever recognized goodness in or through another,
You have experienced God
from Within and Without
All of those experiences, those gifts,
of Love, Truth, Beauty and Goodness
were directly from God through you... or to you.
Glad to Meet You God.
Author Unknown
THE WATERING HOLE
By Sally I. Kennedy
“.... how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask him!" Luke 11:13
Here in sunny south Florida we had the most beautiful winter we have
had in years. It was cool, clear, and purely delightful. However it
was majorly dry. This morning I saw one of the squirrels, who nests
high up in one of the coconut palms, coming towards the wood deck.
On the decking, there’s a defunct jacuzzi under an old canvas cover,
which is so stretched it has pockets that hold water. The doves
around dusk, and the squirrels, apparently regard this as their
watering hole. As this little squirrel approached, he peered into
what was a pitiful tiny bit of a pool. He bent over and drank what he
could. Could be my imagination, but it seemed to me he acted
disappointed as he went off in search of water some other place.
In our country we are usually able to access water through our
faucets. Occasions such as hurricanes, water mains bursting and
bacteria entering, have all brought to my attention how precious
drinking water becomes when it can’t be taken for granted.
We can live without food, but not without water. Jesus said we can
have ‘living water’ (John 4). Spiritually speaking, we can’t live
without that kind of water, either. How fortunate we are to have free
access to that ‘water’, the gift of the Holy Spirit through Jesus
Christ.
I am so very grateful I can keep on drinking at this wonderful
watering hole of living water, that our loving heavenly father has
provided for all of us, anytime, anywhere.
Though we cannot actually see God, our source, If we know Jesus then
we have seen Him. (Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can
you say, 'Show us the Father'? John 14:9)
LET US SEEK GOD'S GUIDANCE
By Helen Steiner Rice
As the threatening "Clouds of Chaos"
Gather in man's muddled mind;
While he searches for an answer
He alone can never find;
May God turn our vision skyward
So that we can see above ...
The gathering clouds of darkness,
And behold God's brightening love.
For today we're facing problems
Man alone can never solve,
For it takes much more than genius
To determine and resolve,
The conditions that confront us
All around on every side,
Daily mounting in intensity
Like the restless, rising tide.
But we'll find new Strength and Wisdom
If instead of proud resistance ...
We humbly call upon the Lord
And seek Divine Assistance;
For the spirit can unravel
Many tangled, knotted threads
That defy the skill and power
Of the world's best hands and heads.
For the plans of growth and progress
Of which we all have dreamed,
Cannot survive materially
Unless the spirit is redeemed.
So as another Year dawns,
Let us seek the Lord in prayer
And place our future hopes and plans
Securely in God's care.
Your life Is Jesus to Someone
YOUR LIFE is Jesus to someone,
though tattered and torn it may be.
Though often times weak and unstable,
you're all of God someone will see.
YOUR TONGUE is Jesus to someone.
That idle, insensitive word
reflects to at least one searching heart
an idle, insensitive Lord.
YOUR GOALS are Jesus to someone.
What you put first, they believe,
are the goals of God for the Christian.
Your life is all they receive.
YOUR FAITHFULNESS... that's Jesus to someone.
Their judgment of how God is true,
rests unquestionably in the faithfulness
they see day by day in you.
YOUR LOVE is Jesus to someone--
that someone who is seeking to know
that Jesus will follow and guide and
befriend wherever in life they might go.
SO BEWARE lest others blaspheme
God by what you say or do,
for the only Jesus that someone knows
is the Jesus they see in you.
Author Unknown
Prayer to be Said by a Sick Person
(May be used for a novena)
O Merciful Infant Jesus! I know of Your miraculous deeds for the sick. How
many diseases You cured during Your blessed life on earth, and how many
venerators of Your Miraculous image ascribe to You their recovery and
deliverance from most painful and hopeless maladies. I know, indeed, that a
sinner like me has merited his sufferings and has no right to ask for
favors. But in view of the innumerable graces and the miraculous cures
granted even to the greatest sinners through the veneration of Your holy
infancy, particularly in the miraculous statue of Prague or in
representations of it, I exclaim with the greatest assurance: O most loving
Infant Jesus, full of pity, You can cure me if You will! Do not hesitate, O
Heavenly Physician, if it be Your will that I recover from this present
illness; extend Your most holy hands, and by Your power take away all pain
and infirmity, so that my recovery may be due, not to natural remedies, but
to You alone. If, however, You in Your inscrutable wisdom have determined
otherwise, then at least restore my soul to perfect health, and fill me with
heavenly consolation and blessing, that I may be like You, O Jesus, in my
sufferings, and may glorify Your providence until, at the death of my body,
You bestow on me eternal life. Amen
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