Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Today do what you can and expect no more of yourself. Lord, I will
feel joy in my accomplishments today and gratitude for the things
I have to do tomorrow.


Scripture for the day:

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not
be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given
to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be
put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get
back." ~Luke 6:37-38

Meditation for the day:

I can try never to judge. The human mind is so delicate and so complex that
only God can know it wholly. Each mind is so different, actuated by such
different motives, controlled by such different circumstances, influenced by
such different sufferings, we cannot know all the influences that have gone
to make up a personality.
Therefore, it is impossible for us to judge wholly that personality.
But God knows that person wholly and God can change it. We can leave to God
the unraveling of the puzzles of personality. We can leave it to God to
teach us the proper understanding.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may not judge other people. I pray that I may be certain that
God can set right what is wrong in every personality.

Hello my friends! Hope your day went well. I had a nice visit with Darla
today and then she went for a massage and took over being there for me if
anyone would come to buy gift cert. Then Lori called us to go to a
restaurant for supper to all be together again. Tomorrow Darla gets another
massage (she sure needs it for being so sore), and I'll see her then as I'll
be working, and then she takes off for Mpls. picking Greg up at the airport
and spending time in Mpls. with friends and coming back here on Friday.
Guess they plan on leaving shortly after Christmas then. She wants us there
for Easter again.


'Ask For A Sign'

“The virgin will be with child,” King Ahaz is told
700 years before the angel, Gabriel, visits Mary
and announces that she will be the virgin who will bear the Messiah.
Again, we see God’s careful planning down through the centuries.
What do you see happening today that is a sign of God’s love for his people?

from Catholic Update: Rest Stops for a Rushed People

Advent Prayer
Father in heaven, the day draws near when the glory of your Son will make
radiant the night of the waiting world. May the lure of greed not impede us
from the joy which moves the hearts of those who seek him. May the darkness
not blind us to the vision of wisdom which fills the minds of those who find
him. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen



Persons are gifts!
At least Jesus thought so:
“Father I want those you have given me to be where I am.”

Persons are gifts which the Father sends to me wrapped!
Some are wrapped very beautifully” They are very attractive when I first see
them. Some are in very ordinary wrapping paper others have been mishandled
in the mail. Once in a while there is a “Special Delivery”.
Some persons are gifts which come very loosely wrapped; others very lightly.

But wrapping is not the gift!
It’s so easy to make this mistake. Sometimes the gift is very easy to open
up.
Sometimes I need other to help. Is it because they are afraid?
Does it hurt? Maybe they have been opened up before and thrown away.
Could it be that the gift is not for me?

I am a person! Therefore I am a gift too:
A Gift to myself first of all. The Father gave myself to me!
Have I ever really looked inside the wrappings?
Perhaps I have never accepted the gift that I am.
Could it be that there is something else inside the wrappings other than
what I think? Maybe I’ve never seen the wonderful gift that I am.
Could the father’s gift be anything but beautiful? I love the gifts which
those who love me give to me. Why not this gift from the Father?

And I am a Gift to other persons!
Am I willing to be given by the father to others?
A person for others like the Man for others?
Do others have to be content with the wrappings…
never permitted to enjoy the gift?
Every meeting of persons is an exchange of gifts!
But a gift without a giver is not a gift. It is a thing without relationship
to one who gives or to one who receives.

Friendship is a relationship between persons who see themselves as they
really are!
Gifts of the father to each for others-sisters, brothers. A friend is a gift
not just for me, but to others through me. When I keep my friend - possess
him or her – I destroy his or her “Gift-ness”. If I save his or her life for
me, I lose it.
If I lose it for others, I save it.

Persons are gifts, gifts received and gifts given….like the Son!

The Lord was resting in a house
When His Birthday came again.
In celebration of His first,
The earth was remembering when
He was born beneath the star,
In a lowly stable then.

The high and mighty of the earth,
In pompous display of wealth,
Showered the Lord with trinkets of gold,
Mostly gained by stealth.
With benign air and ponderous pride
They wished Him the best of health.

The Lord of All regarded them
With eyes of sorrow and shame.
"It would please me mightily, for you
To remember and speak My Name.
To help all those truly in want
And do it for me, not fame.

"What need have I of money and jewels
When I have the whole world," said He'
"Be kind and help the sick and the poor;
When you do it, do it for Me.
When you give in Love your talents and time,
You help to set Me free.

"The lowest slave who helps his brothers
Is truly a Brother to Me.
Those who heal with Love in their hearts
Are really healing Me.
Those who give their life for others
Will live for eternity.

"To all who seek to remember My birth,
Remember My life as well.
Keep My day with Love in your hearts,
And don't forget to tell
All you meet of My Love for them,
Then Love will forever swell."

SEASON'S MEETINGS
Author Unknown



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.

With that I wish you all a Good night and sweet dreams and my God bless your
Wednesday with lots of blessings and good health.