Category Archives: Religion and Spirituality

By Another Way…

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By Another Way…

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Another sign the Wise Men saw and followed was advice given through a dream.

To Go Another Way…

Perhaps the Wise Men after finding Him who their heart desired would have wanted to stay and continue to offer praise and homage, but they had responsibility to get back to.

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How easy it would have been to go back the path they had forged in the coming…

But we can never go back to the familiar, the old way, after meeting Christ.

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Our lives become the Other Way..

always new…exploring new territory…unkown to us whilst living in and of the world.

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My Lord, may we be given the grace to see the signs and follow the direction you ask us to take, always docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in whatever way they may come.  Heal us of any fear in pressing forward on the “other way” which is the new way, deeper in communion with You. Amen

All Natural…No Preservative Self…

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“Everyone who has this hope based on Him makes himself pure, as He is pure.”1 John3:3

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To HOPE is to keep one’s eyes on the top of the cross….

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while keeping vigil at the foot.

How good, gracious, and merciful is our God that by merely hoping…

Our eyes set on Him who is our HOPE…

We are made PURE.

To be PURE is to be all we are called to be…

no fakes, no masks, no pretense, no artificial flavors…

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100% pure, all natural, no additives, no preservatives.

By being in Your Presence Lord in prayer…

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which in itself is an act of HOPE…

We become more purely who we are…who we are meant to be.

Eternal Life Today…

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“And this is the promise he made us:  eternal life.” 1 John 26

endless…interminable…unceasing…unending…lasting…permament…perpetual…deathless…immortal…undying…everlasting…timeless…infinite…without-end…forever…enduring through all time…ceaseless…always…

LIFE.

When you make a promise you give your word…

God gave us a promise…

God gave us his word…His Word made flesh…

weareisrael.org

 His Word made flesh was the promise of eternal life He gave us.

In the New Year…in this time of resolutions and promises…

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 Shouldn’t our most important promises be given to God?

Promises that bring us closer to His promise?

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What steps can we take this day to bring us nearer to living the life that promises us “always” life?

What promises given to God, to ourselves, to others?

“Heavenly Father, You gave Your promise. You gave Your Word…and the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us so that  Your promise to us of eternal life might be fulfilled.  May we be given the grace to be fully human, beginning eternal life today and drawing others into this forever love.”

Here is a long, but absolutely awesome worship song. Jason Upton’s “One Step Away” will lead you into a taste of that timelessness we all long for. Close your eyes and enjoy this time with God.

 Jason Upton, One Step Away

 

Messengers Among Us…

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Friends…true friends…are the greatest of gifts.

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A true friend gives a bit of his/her golden heart…

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May we return the blessing.

A true friend is strong when we are weak…

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May we return the blessing.

A true friend reminds us to look towards the light when all seems dim…

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May we return the blessing.

A true friend offers to lend us his/her Hawaiin shirt when we just have to “get outa’ here”, but usually encourages us to stay put and persevere.

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May we return the blessing.

A true friend knows how to make us laugh when we’d rather cry…

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but sits with us through the tears when they start to fall.

May we return the blessing.

A true friend is a messenger among us showing us the love of God and pointing to us the direction upward and beyond.

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May we return the blessing.

Messengers among us preparing our way….may we return the blessing.

Messengers among us…gifts from God….

Let us thank those messengers among us in our lives…

And may they return the blessing.

“I give thanks to my God always, remembering you in my prayers” Phil:4

A Song in the Heart….

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Sundays are for singing…

What is the song in your heart?

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We all have one…sometimes buried underneath the busy-ness of our everyday lives.

It’s a tune that no one else can sing but us.

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Dare to ask, what is the song in my heart, Lord?

Teach me the tune, Holy Spirit…

so that I may join my voice with the choirs of heavenly angels whose song echoes into the hustle and bustle of our busy lives.

If we but slow down…and listen…

we will learn our part of the love song that a myriad of souls are already singing here and above.

This tune of love.

Discover it within…walk in it…find peace in its melody.

“Let everything that has breath give praise to the Lord. Hallelujah!” Ps150:6

 

Feel the Burn…

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Love…

the word…overused and misunderstood.

Love is not based on feelings…

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stars in the eyes, sweaty palms, Hollywood hype feelings.

Love is not even based on understanding,

for as hard as we try we cannot ever fully understand each other.

Love is acceptance.

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Otentimes acceptance is uncomfortable….it goes against the grain.

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But it’s in the uncomfortable we begin to love.

Love is loving the unlovable and that is where true virtue begins.

Let’s look more closely at the uncomfortable in our lives…

there’s room for love there.

Let us stretch ourselves and feel the burn of our prides convicted and our very selves challenged.

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We have to give up to win!

That’s when we truly begin to love.

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FEEL THE BURN!

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your STRENGTH.”

Mark 12:30

Mint Julep Optional…

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What is PEACE of mind…How do we live it?

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Spanish Moss is common in the southern United States.

image via art.com

Oak trees draped with hanging moss paint a picture of peace and tranquility.

Evoke images of Southern belles, all afternoon picnics, and croquet games.

Mint Juleps optional.

Spanish moss is very beautiful…

but it grows in nooks and crevices of the weakest branches of majestic hundred year old trees.

Blocks the sunlight from feeding the leaves that surround it.

It does not kill, but yes, further weakens.

Our minds can become full with random thoughts, distracting thoughts, busy thoughts, purposeless thoughts, empty thoughts…

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Our minds become weak with the heaviness of them.

Thoughts drape up on thoughts shutting out the light from above that guides us and sustains us.

Begin to weaken our will, our walk.

Let not the moss grow in weakened areas of the mind.

Relax, slow down, rest…

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Mint Julep optional!

Let the light of Godly, purposeful, affirming thoughts fill your mind.

Anything else is mere moss.

A light filled mind is a PEACE filled mind.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.  Then the God of peace will be with you. ” Phil 4: 8-9

An Instrument….

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Lord make me an INSTRUMENT of your PEACE…

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Where there is hatred, let me sow love…

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Where there is injury, pardon…

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Where there is doubt, faith…

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Where there is despair, hope…

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Where there is darkness, light…

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Where there is sadness, joy…

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O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console…

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To be understood as to understand…

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To be loved as to love…

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For it is in giving that we receive…

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It is in pardoning that we are pardoned…

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And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

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Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

“Lord truly make us your INSTRUMENTS of PEACE.”

Get the Elephant out of the Middle of the Room….

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“Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called sons of God.”

Peace MAKERS.

We all love Peace, but…

We are called to be Peace MAKERS.

Called to go about life intentionally bringing about the highest good of others.

Then we are BLESSED to be called Children of God…

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 Mirrors of God’s very nature.

Peace MAKING is not about avoiding conflict…

Brushing dirt under the rug…

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Ignoring the elephant in the middle of the room.

This is a call to get to the heart of the matter…

To unravel the knots with God’s given grace and wisdom.

Jesus, Our Savior King, died up on the cross to bring Peace and to restore us to a right relationship with Him.

Peace MAKERS don’t avoid conflict.

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 They walk right into it with their armor on.

And by the power of the Holy Spirit bring wholeness into the brokenness.

MAKE Peace in the real sense of the word and you will be BLESSED.

“Let us pursue what leads to peace and to building up one another.” Romans 14:19

 

Walking in the Garden in the Breezy Time of the Day…

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Adam and Eve walking in the garden in the breezy time of day, conversing with God.

Sigh…..can you just imagine?

But then the fall…

Discord…Disconnect…Seperation…Sin

Now we all long for Peace…

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Shalom in Hebrew.

Peace…a word that packs a punch.

Peace…a prayer.

Peace…means wholeness, completeness, perfectness, fullness.

When we greet one another with “Peace” or “Peace be with you”,

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We are actuallly saying…

“I hope this day there is movement toward wholeness for you.”

“I hope this day things in your life are as they ought to be.”

“I hope this day you are restored to walking in the garden in the breezy time of day with God.”

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Peace…a mighty blessing we bestow on others.

Peace…a paradise petition.

Peace this day, friends, may you know it and may you pass it on.

Words are powerful!

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