Category Archives: Encouragement

Be a Shout of Color…

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Picture Credit: Julianne Jackson

The fallen azalea flower…

far removed from its mother bush.

Bright pink, but face down in all the muck and mud that gathers before the opening of the drainage ditch.

Just the gentlest of showers could carry it into that darkest of places – forgotten.

But for now it is a shout of color within the dirty debris.

Being itself in the midst…as it is called to be…as it needs to be.

“Be who you are and be that well in order to honor the Master whose handiwork you are.” St. Francis de Sales

“When they walk through the valley of weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs.”

 

+It has been awhile since I have posted on this blog and I hope now to return more regularly.  I have weekly been posting on my professional blog at http://www.lifelinesmobile.org/blog and you are welcome to visit me there. And yet I have missed this place, this bit of Godly sanctuary, and each of you my readers. I’m learning that in work we often wear seatbelts. I see God so connected in the all about me, it blesses me (and I h0pe you as well) to share those bits of light. In this crazy, mixed up world we need to remember God is with us. He is Emmanuel, and we in turn are called to be those shouts of color…that hope for the weary.

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I Challenge You…

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image via lynnwittenburg.com

image via lynnwittenburg.com

Resolutions focus on changing something we perceive as wrong in our lives. Beginning with the negative often ends in the negative.  How about starting 2015 with the positive? With ONE WORD. ONE WORD that represents a new focus, a new outlook, a special quality that marks the way ahead.  Words are powerful…a single work can inspire, motivate, connect, build up and forge a path forward if that ONE WORD becomes a signpost on our journey.  I challenge each of you to prayerfully ask God to reveal to you ONE WORD, YOUR ONE WORD, for the path ahead this year. Then post this word somewhere you frequent, ponder it, chew on it, allow it to transform!

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language…And net year’s words await another voice.” T. S. Eliot

Happy New Year 2015

From the Heart of J

Companions of Your Pilgrimage…

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In loving your neighbor and caring for him…

You are on a journey.

Where are you traveling if not to the Lord God, to Him whom we should love with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind?

We have not yet reached His presence…

But we have our neighbor at our side.

Support, then, this companion of your pilgrimage if you want to come into the presence of the one with whom you desire to remain forever.  + St. Augustine

An Epic Poem to be Savored….

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feet-up-resting-footstool

Official permission to slow down one’s life…

is like being given an epic poem yet to be savored.

Give thanks for those things in life that sloooooow down one’s steps….

for truly the mind and the heart soon follow. (I promise)

“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ” James 1:2-3.

Christmas Virus…WARNING…

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image via from the heart of j

image via from the heart of j

WARNING……WARNING: CHRISTMAS VIRUS

Be on the alert for symptoms of inner Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to this virus and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.

Some signs and symptoms of The Christmas Virus:

A tendency to:      think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past  experiences

An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment

A loss of  interest in judging other people.

  • A loss of  interest in interpreting the actions of others.
  • A loss of  interest in conflict.
  • A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
  • Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
  • Contented  feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
  • Frequent attacks of smiling.
  • An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
  • An increased  susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

Please send this warning out to all your friends. This virus can and has affected many systems. Some systems have been completely cleaned out because of it. (Author Unknown)

SPREAD THE GIFT!

Hectic Hustle…

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   “It might be easy to run away to a monastery, away from the commercialization, the hectic hustle, the demanding family responsibilities of Christmas-time. Then we would have a holy Christmas. But we would forget the lesson of the Incarnation, of the enfleshing of God—the lesson that we who are followers of Jesus do not run from the secular; rather we try to transform it. It is our mission to make holy the secular aspects of Christmas just as the early Christians baptized the Christmas tree. And we do this by being holy people—kind, patient, generous, loving, laughing people—no matter how maddening is the Christmas rush…” Fr. Andrew Greeley

Horizon of Hope…

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Looking-into-the-Horizon

“This journey is never finished. ..

Just as in the life of each one of us, there is always a need to start again…

to get back up, to rediscover the meaning of our existence.

So for the great human family it is necessary always to redirect ourselves toward the common horizon that is the goal of our journey.

  It is the horizon of hope!

The season of Advent that today we begin once again, restores the horizon of hope for us,

a hope that does not disappoint because it is founded on the Word of God.

It is a hope that does not disappoint simply because the Lord never disappoints!

He is Faithful! He does not disappoint!

+ Pope Francis…12/1/13

Laced Up Hiking Boots?…

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image via curesearch.org

image via curesearch.org

There are times one is given a foreshadowing of life’s hill ahead…

It can be daunting.

But it’s not about how far you travel daily or even how quickly you journey.

It’s all about showing up each new day, with hiking boots laced up, ready to climb, step by step.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta says, “God does not require that we be successful, only that we be faithful.”

line“But he said to me, ‘ My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will rather boast most gladly of my weakness, in order that the power of Christ dwell with me.”  2 Co 12:9

All around your Boat…

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image via fromtheheartofj

image via fromtheheartofj

“Take care to maintain peace and tranquility in your heart; let the waves toss and churn all around your boat, but fear not, because God is there and as a result, salvation.” Francis de Sales

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you.  Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”           John 14:27