Love

“Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.” Corrie ten Boom

Education

“Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live and how to die.”
– John Taylor Gatto

Welcome to my table...

“Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.”   Henri Nouwen

My Guy....Riley

I already dread that day since my guy just had his 8th birthday....but when the time comes this will bring me comfort.  In the meantime, I will focus my energies on being grateful and enjoy each day as it comes.

Treasured Friend
I lost a treasured friend today

The little dog who used to lay

His gentle head upon my knee

And shared his silent thoughts with me.

He’ll come no longer to my call

Retrieve no more his favorite ball

A voice far greater than my own

Has called him to his golden throne.

Although my eyes are filled with tears

I thank him for the happy years

He let him spend down here with me

And for his love and loyalty.

When it is time for me to go

And join him there, this much I know

I shall not fear the transient dark

For he will greet me with a bark.

                          Author Unknown

 



I love Ann Voskamp....she has such a great way of wording things....

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2014/08/how-to-really-send-the-kids-back-to-school-out-into-the-world

 Life is about one thing: Coming to His table and inviting as many as you can to come with you and feast on the only Living Food.

 And don’t live safe. How many times have I thought safe mattered when Jesus died to save us not to make us safe. No one ever got saved unless someone else was unsafe.

  "There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice."     John Calvin

This quote goes along with my morning devotion Scriptures today about praising God.
There is always a reason to REJOICE despite our circumstances.

Psalm 103:1-5  New Life Version (NLV)

 Praise the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me, praise His holy name. ² Praise the Lord, O my soul. And forget none of His acts of kindness. ³ He forgives all my sins. He heals all my diseases. ⁴ He saves my life from the grave. He crowns me with loving-kindness and pity. ⁵ He fills my years with good things and I am made young again like the eagle.

 

 Psalm 34:1  New Life Version (NLV)

 I will honor the Lord at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth.

 

 

 

What Really Matters

"When all the stages of life have passed us by, these things alone remain: the spiritual treasure that stretches our souls to see what our eyes cannot, the remembrance of how beautiful life really is under all its ugliness, and the love of those around us who make the journey gentle as we go."
Joan Chittister: Essential Writings

Medicine for the Fretter

 

The Peace of Wild Things

By Wendell Berry b. 1934 Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Is It Arrogant To Tell Other Christians To Imitate Your Example?

Aug 04, 2014 | Trevin Wax    http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/

 

WOW, that's a pretty tall order, not sure I'm up for people imitating me...but according to Scripture Paul encouraged others to do that many times.  What do I need to change in my life before I could say that?  Would I need to be perfect?  Paul wasn't!    Would I need to add a caveat...follow me only in as much as I follow Christ?---I sure hope so!

 

This article gave much food for thought...

"The call to imitation is predicated on the fact that Paul’s life was “in Christ (1 Cor. 11:1).” He was worthy of imitation to the extent that Paul’s life reflected the work of Christ in his heart. Imitation is a gift of God’s grace and not another task on a person’s religious to-do list.

 

He also makes a great point that you can't impact others lives by imitation unless you are willing to spend time with them.

 

Lord, help me to live life in a way that I can say, follow me as I follow Christ.