Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends! Today's blessings - I got all the rest of the apples used up, in our squash from the garden and apples, sliced, fried together with a little sugar and cinnamon on it, had it for supper with pork chops and hash brown potatoes, also from the garden. Got some left over so that's great!! We still have some apples in the fridge that are from our trees for eating and we are eating them, don't need to buy any for awhile. Lori is picking me up in a few minutes to go somewhere to buy a used health rider for $25.00. Hope it's in good condition or we leave it. It's an hour's drive, but nice mother/daughter time for sure. Hope your day was filled with lots of blessings too, wish you'd share about them.

If you look for the light side in all things, you will keep yourself alive

and healthy. Lord, may I be able to see the good in my experiences,

even in my most challenging moments.

Scripture for the day:

I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret

places, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of

Israel, who call you by your name. ~Isaiah 45:3

Meditation for the day:

"I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret

places, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of

Israel, who call you by your name." We can dwell for a moment each

day in a secret place, the place of communion with God, apart from the

world, and there receive strength to face the world. Material things

cannot intrude upon this secret place, they cannot not ever find it,

because it is outside the realm of material things. When we abide in

this secret place, we are under the shadow of the Almighty. God is

close to us in this quiet place of communion. Each day, we can dwell

for a while in this secret place.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may renew my strength in quietness. I pray that I may

find rest in quiet communion with God.

Mother Teresa said...

Trust in the good God who loves us, who cares for us,

who sees all, knows all, can do all things

for my good and the good of souls.

One thing Jesus asks of me: that I lean upon Him;

that in Him alone I put complete trust;

that I surrender myself to Him unreservedly.

Heaven Is a Gift

There was a teacher who died recently and went to heaven. He came to the

door and Peter said, "Wait a minute! Come here! Where are you going?" "I'm

going in there." "Oh, no you're not." "Why not?" "It's not that simple."

"Why?" "Well, we have a points system here, you see: so many points to get

in."

"Oh, I didn't think that applied here. How many points," said the teacher,

"to get in?" "Well, you need at least a thousand," said Peter. At this the

teacher was a bit shocked but then came to himself again and Peter said,

"Okay, come on, come on, what did you do when you were down there?"

So he stuck out his chest and said, "I went to Mass every morning for 40

years." He thought that was his trump card. And Peter said, "Fair enough.

That's one point." At this the teacher's heart was in his shoes and so,

Peter continued, "What else?" "Well, I belonged to the Third World agencies,

the St Vincent de Paul Society and a couple more charitable organizations."

Peter said, "Hurry up - what else? How much money did you collect for good

causes over the years?" "Perhaps something like 25,000." "Not bad," said

Peter, "not bad. That's another point."

At this stage the teacher was completely deflated and muttered to himself

something like, "If this is the way it is, it's only by the grace of God

that I'm ever going to get in." On hearing that, Peter turned to him and

said, "Once you believe that, you've got the necessary thousand points. If

you really believe what you just said, you may go right on in. Because

heaven is a total, absolute, pure free gift of God."

To The Lord

Looking to the Lord--that is faith!

Turning to the Lord--that is repentance!

Coming to the Lord--that is conversion!

Adding to the Lord--that is adoption!

Singing to the Lord--that is devotion!

Heartily to the Lord--that is service!

Giving to the Lord--that is fellowship!

Cleaving to the Lord--that is dependence!

Faithful to the Lord--that is loyalty!

Attention to the Lord--that is discipleship!

Obedience to the Lord--that is Christianity!

Author Unknown

THE PERFECT HEART

Author Unknown

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming

that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large

crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect.

There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly

was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was

very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said "Why

your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the

young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but

full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other

pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and there were several

jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where

whole pieces were missing.

The people stared - how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they

thought? The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state

and laughed. "You must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart with

mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears."

"Yes," said the old man, "Yours is perfect looking but I would never

trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have

given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them,

and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the

empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I have

some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love

we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the

other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the

empty gouges -- giving love is taking a chance.

Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the

love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return

and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty

is?"

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He

walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful

heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with

trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart

and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the

wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there

were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect

anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's

heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.

How sad it must be to go through life with a whole untouched heart.

“THE ONION”

I was an onion before Christ set me free;

Layers upon layers of iniquity.

An ugly old onion whose fragrance was strong;

That my Jesus bought and loved all along.

Unknown to me what He was going to do;

Of what He was planning, I had not a clue.

Pulling each layer off one by one,

In order to make me more like Jesus the Son.

The first layer wasn’t so bad,

I saw all the sins that I knew I had.

They were easy to fix, just change the way I talk,

And learn more of how He wanted me to walk.

Reading His Word, and learning again;

How to put aside my life of sin.

But the next layer was pulled which hurt more,

He was getting closer to the core.

Unknown what He would find there,

I simply gave it to Him in prayer.

As another layer was removed, He started to cry;

Pulling this layer brought pain to my Father on high.

And I was crying over the sadness I felt;

The brokenness and all the guilt.

Past memories that I thought were gone;

But they were buried under layers disguised in a fragrance so strong.

As onions are peeled more and more,

They put tears in our eyes as we get close to the core;

So my Father wept over my pain;

Giving me a balm of comfort and strength to sustain.

“NO MORE LAYERS!” I would scream,

As he continued to peel each layer off of me.

“I’ll have nothing left, my Lord, what will I do?

I’ll be nothing but a worthless core to You.”

But he simply said “Trust Me,” continuing to peel,

I believe he was blinded to my pain that was so real.

Year after year I shrunk more and more;

Until all that was left of this onion was a core.

It was then that I began to understand;

As the Lord embraced me in His loving hand.

He said, “Now and only now, can you be;

The creation that will minister before Me.

“Clothed with the righteousness only from above;

Gone are your layers of self, so you can be filled with My love.”

He took my layers of sin, hurt and pain;

And clothed me with love, truth and mercy in His name.

Yes, we are all onions, learning with each day;

How to overcome as each layer is taken away.

Some layers tear and pull at your heart;

While others grieve us to our innermost part.

But we are nothing but an ugly onion before Christ.

Layers upon layers of pride, sin and strife.

Only God can take those layers away.

And clothe us with His righteousness in that final day.