Community Chat

[DoubleJ]

When we want things around us to change, the best place to start in within
ourselves. Lord, grant that my frustrations can be a motivation to better
myself and my environment.


S C R I P T U R E F O R T H E D A Y

"Be still and know that I am God." ~Psalm 46:10

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

Calmness is constructive of good. Agitation is destructive of good.
I need not rush into action. I can first "be still and know that God
is God." Then I can act only as God directs me through my conscience.
Only trust, perfect trust in God can keep me calm when all around me
are agitated. Calmness is trust in action. I can seek all things
which can help me to cultivate calmness. To attain material things,
the world learns to attain speed. To attain spiritual things, I can
learn to attain a state of calm.

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

I pray that I may learn how to have inner peace. I pray that I may be
calm, so that God can work through me.


Hello my friends! Soon and very soon I'll be able to post here again
without any help - I have Faith. I think it will be Monday night - we'll
see.
Today I couldn't go to my great nephew's wedding - Sammy is sick and needs
me. Every 8 hours we fight with him to take his antibiotic, and another
pain pill once daily.
Lori went to the Wedding and we have Ollie here now and overnight until
tomorrow afternoon sometime - after the Wedding she will be meeting up with
another massage girl friend who took the class with her and remained
friends. She used do to massages for Brittany Steel and her gang - she
lives in California.
So it's been busy here with Ollie - he is always into something. It'll be a
challenge to leave those two alone tomorrow morning so we can go to Church,
either we'll tie him outside for that hour or keep Sammy in our bedroom with
the door shut, but then what all will Ollie get into while we're gone?
Already today he found my bees wax jar I got from the Q and just about ate
it all before I caught him. He eats anything! I had left over carrots for
supper, he ate them all! That I gave him so that was ok. Sammy is still
limping and is sore.
My blessings - Linus got home from work earlier today and we had an earlier
supper than predicted - chicken on the grill, and he grilled some frozen
sweet potato fries. I keep praying for Sammy to heal - hate to see him
suffer so much! Right now both dogs are sleeping!!! That's a first today!!
Praying for all of you and thanks for your prayers for us.

This is the start of our Year of Faith in our Church:

We stand before you, Holy spirit,
conscious of our sinfulness,
but aware that we gather in your name.

Come to us, remain with us, and enlighten our hearts.
Give us light and strength to know your will,
to make it our own,
and to live it in our lives.

Guide us by your wisdom, support us by your power,
for you are God, sharing the glory of Father and Son.

You desire justice for all:
enable us to uphold the rights of others;
do not allow us to be misled by ignorance
or corrupted by fear or favour.

Unite us to yourself in the bond of love
and keep us faithful to all that is true.

As we gather in your name
may we temper justice with love,
so that all our decisions may be pleasing to you,
and earn the reward promised to
good and faithful servants.

You live and reign with the Father and the Son,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.

My Hand in God's

Each morning when I wake I say,
"I place my hand in God's today;"
I know He'll walk close by my side
My every wandering step to guide.

He leads me with the tenderest care
When paths are dark and I despair---
No need for me to understand
If I but hold fast to His hand.

My hand in His! No surer way
to walk in safety through each day.
By His great bounty I am fed;
Warmed by His love, and comforted.

When at day's end I seek my rest
And realize how much I'm blessed,
My thanks pour out to Him; and then
I place my hand in God's again.

By Florence Scripps Kellogg

A Full Jar
One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business
students and to drive home a point, he used an illustration those students
will never forget.
As he stood in front of the group of high-powered overachievers he said,
“Okay, time for a quiz.”
Following that, he pulled out a one-gallon, wide mouth mason jar and set it
on the table in front of him. He took out about a dozen fist-sized rocks and
carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar.
When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he
asked, “Is this jar full?”
Everyone in the class said, “Yes.”

Then he said, “Really?”
He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some
gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down
into the space between the big rocks.
Subsequently, he asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?”
By this time the class was on to him.
“Probably not.” One of them answered.

“Good.” He replied.
He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started
dumping the sand into the jar and it went into all of the spaces left
between the rocks and the gravel.
Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?”
“No!” The class shouted.

Once again he said, “Good.”
He grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was
filled to the brim.
Then he looked at the class and asked, “What is the point of this
illustration?”
One eager beaver raised his hand and said, “The point is no matter how full
your schedule is; you can always fit more things in it if you try hard
enough.”
“No, that’s not the point.” The speaker replied.
“The illustration teaches us that if you don’t put the big rocks in first,
you’ll never get them in at all.”

What are the big rocks in your life? Time with your loved ones? Faith,
education or your dreams? A worthy cause? Teaching or mentoring others?
Remember to put these Big Rocks in first or you’ll never get them in at all.

Hence when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this
question, “What are the big rocks in my life?”

Then, put those in your jar first.

THEY MISSED HIM!
Author Unknown

They were looking for A Lion, He came as a Lamb, and they missed him.

They were looking for a Warrior, He came as a Peace maker, and they
missed him.

They were looking for a King, He came as a Servant, and they missed
him.

They were looking for Liberation from Rome, He submitted to the Roman
cross, and they missed him.

They were looking for a fit to their mold, He was the mold maker, and
they missed him.

What are you looking for? Lion? Warrior? King? Liberator? What are you
looking for?

They were looking for their temporal needs to be met. He came to meet
their eternal needs, and they missed him.

He came as a Lamb to be sacrificed for your sin. Will you miss him?

He came to make peace between God and man. Will you miss him?

He came to model servanthood for all mankind. Will you miss him?

He came that we might have true Liberty. Will you miss him?

He came to give you eternal life. Will you miss him?

When we submit to the Lamb we will meet the Lion. Join with the
Peacemaker and we will meet the Warrior. Work with the Servant and we
will meet the King. Walk with the Submitted and we will meet the
Liberator. Concern ourselves with the eternal and we will have the
temporal.

If Jesus is not fitting into the mold you have, then come to the mold
maker and get His new one. Submit to His plan for your life and you
will see the eternal need met first, then all the other things you
have need of will be taken care of as well.

Believe in yourself...
in the power you have
to control your own life day by day.
Believe in the strength
that you have deep inside
and your faith will help
show you the way.
Believe in tomorrow
and what it will bring,
let a hopeful heart
carry you through
for things will work out
if you trust and believe
there's no limit
to what you can do!

SPECIAL BEATITUDES
Author Unknown


SPECIAL BEATITUDES for those who work with special people

BLESSED ARE YOU who take time to listen to difficult speech
FOR YOU help us know that if we persevere, we can be understood.

BLESSED ARE YOU who walk with us in public places and ignore the
stares of strangers,
FOR in your companionship, we find havens of relaxation.

BLESSED ARE YOU who never bid us "hurry up" and more blessed, you who
do not snatch our tasks from our hands to do them for us
FOR often we need time rather than help.

BLESSED ARE YOU who stand beside us as we enter new and untried
ventures,
FOR our failures will be outweighed by times when we surprise
ourselves and you.

BLESSED ARE YOU who ask for our help
FOR our greatest need is to be needed.

BLESSED ARE YOU who help us with the graciousness of Christ.
FOR oftentimes we need the help we cannot ask for.

BLESSED ARE YOU when, by all these things you assure us that the thing
that makes us individuals is not in our peculiar muscles, not in our
wounded nervous systems, nor in our difficulties in learning
BUT in the God-given self which no infirmity can confine.

REJOICE AND BE EXCEEDINGLY GLAD, and know that you give us
reassurances that could never be spoken in words,
FOR you deal with us as Christ dealt with all His children.

Where there is charity and wisdom

Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.
Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor vexation.
Where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice.
Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt.

Saint Francis of Assisi

This prayer was used by Pope John XXIII at the Second Vatican Council and
then prayed by all the Bishops at the beginning of every session.