MY WISH FOR YOU TODAY

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Good morning! This time it won't be thoughts put down to share.... but a wish sincere with a hope that it helps you in your day's journey. A quote that puts in all the words I want to say..........

“This is my wish for you:

Comfort on difficult days,
Smiles when sadness intrudes,
Rainbows to follow the clouds,
Laughter to kiss your lips,
Sunsets to warm your heart,
Hugs when spirits sag,
Beauty for your eyes to see,
Friendships to brighten your being,
Faith so that you can believe,
Confidence for when you doubt,
Courage to know yourself,
Patience to accept the truth,
Love to complete your life.”

Author Unknown

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Blessings of peace and joy for you and your loved ones.


(With thanks and appreciation to a good friend who sent me this quote in email.)

GOD - OUR POWER SOURCE

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If God would speak to you now up close, do you know what he would say to you... seeing you now fraught with so much anxiety worry and fear?

Allow me to quote this from the book I'm reading --- "Good Morning... God" (Pamela Steinke) .....

To quote:

EVEN THIS

"Even this. Say it often --- 'The Lord would take care of even this.' There are no exceptions, there is not one thing beyond My control and power. These are valuable lessons to be learned, and there is no other way to learn them than simply to put your faith on the line and trust Me.

There need be no discomfort in the midst of trials. Not in my presence. Discomfort comes from worry, from fear, from meeting or anticipating problems in your own power, not in Mine. If you were truly trusting Me with no reservations, you would not be uncomfortable in any situation. You would not be irritable, or depressed, or upset. You would know my rest, the rest i give so liberally to My children who are trusting Me. Is there discomfort? Then go to the source and oust it from your life. Discomfort does not come from Me and need have no part of you." -Unquote.
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Now you tell me... are you seeing this with disbelief? you say easier said than done? impossible? not doable? Yup you are also correct in your perceptions. Humanly correct yet spiritually incorrect.

But only because we.. yes all if not most of us ... have not yet learned so well how to put our faith and trust in God. Our human nature is to worry. (I worry too just like you.) That's a flaw in us, among many others more. But God understands us and judges us not. Instead He shows us how to handle our anxieties in life. Gently He nudges us closer to Him knowing fully well our own frail weak souls and offers Himself as refuge.

Take it! Don't hesitate. Bring God into our lives, into our hearts, into our minds. And stick to it like hard glue no-matter-how-you-feel and no-matter-how-things-may-look to you. Open the door and let Him in. Understand that without Him, we will certainly be lost beaten overwhelmed and defeated. But with Him -- we have the power to overcome whatever it is that comes and tries to beat us to the ground. Let go of our weakness.. and LET GOD - our power source.

Write this in our hearts --- "EVEN THIS. THE LORD WOULD TAKE CARE OF EVEN THIS." Remember we have a great FATHER and KING. Don't make Him a small GOD.
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May I request for prayers for the safety of my people in this big bad storm, thousands of families are being displaced by it. Thank you and God bless you.

FAITH IS WHERE THE HEART IS

A rainy day. So what does a rainy day like this bring to my mind?

This -----

No amount of intellectual thinking or educated brain or brilliance or wit can take you to that point of faith. It can't and never will be able to fathom the wonder and mystery of it. Research it but still you will feel empty inside. Experiment on it and it will only lead you back to where you started... still wondering.

Sometimes we just don't get it, do we? Even if others who know have tried with their stories and lives to tell us what it truly is. Even if we see dozens like them with our eyes, still we don't get it.

But I know why we still don't. So then ... you ask why?

Our hearts are not paying attention. It takes on a lot --- fear, joy, sadness, grief, hate, resentment, bitterness, loneliness, love, hope --- but always and always it finds it so hard to have faith.

Faith is nothing you can cause by yourself alone. It's not the magic that happens with a wish-upon-a-star or a wave of your fairy godmother's magic wand. It's not a piece of candy in a candy store that looking so gorgeous you want it for yourself too. It is not even when you are down in misery crying buckets that would qualify you to hold it in your hand.

It's far more than that... and yet so simple too.

Because all that you have to do is simply to open up your heart and let God with his gentle and loving hands put faith in there.

And when you ever find it, it can be so fragile and fleeting that if you don't hold it close and nurture it... it will fly away. The fire of faith has to be rekindled again and again, nurtured with our life day after day. It's life depends on the life you put into it with your heart.

Faith is a gift ... a gift you can ask for, pray for, live for.

"Faith is an oasis in the heart which can never be reached by the caravan of thinking" --- Kahlil Gibran
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A blessed Monday to everyone. :-)
(Quote and image courtesy of a good friend.)

LOVE IS ALSO LETTING GO

I have always thought that when you love someone, there shouldn't be any if's or but's to it. No holding back. No conditions. You just give it your all. This could take you to the ends of the world or to making a fool of yourself for the _nth time or turn your world crazily upside down and around or simply said -- just feeling so in love and don't care a hoot if all hell breaks lose.. You simply love. And that is beautiful, truly!

But as all things in life go through change, so will a relationship. Layers get peeled off sooner or later and sometimes we don't like what we see or discover. Or maybe the other person is growing at a much faster clip and tips the scale over to that person's favor. Dissatisfaction and resentment sets in. Many reasons bring change to a person and to life. Change which upset the balance or rattle comfort zones. And this puts pressure on the relationship. Can love cope or handle that? Sometimes yes, sometimes not.

So then If the moment should come for hard decisions which would end up in an empty nest so to speak, then perhaps it is best to learn to let go. You can't keep someone or something which isn't yours anymore, or doesn't want to be. Maybe not so much losing her heart cause love must still be there .. but a loss brought about by a mind that has grown by leaps and bounds harder to rein in or catch. Letting go would make transition easier from having to not having. Further, it is just right to free a person to seek his or her own truth or grow where asked to grow or change when the heart so dictates truthfully. Certainly it will be very sad and would crumble your world, but if your loss would mean a loved one's gain ... then letting go might be deemed heroic too and would point to a beautiful heart which knows how to love and love so well. Don't you think?

HEARTS PRAY BETTER

Prayer is not just a word but the only common language known and shared the world over. It is spoken in all the different languages by a vast multitude and diversity of race, culture, and creed. Oh but we all know that, don't we?!

But this one thing I do know....... prayer is the only 6-letter word around with heart permanently attached to it. Not always visible to the eye but a poor man living on the streets or the president of a country or a little kid of 5 or a life-weary old man of 80 or a person praying for a loved one -- they all have their hearts tied up in their prayers. So many things to pray about -- life, death, healing, success, provision, protection, guidance, relationships, ambitions, dreams, goals -- everything contained in our life struggles is reason for a prayer. For self or for others. Even in our mundane pettiness and whimsical desires. Oh yes, ever heard how kids pray? And maybe in some adults too.

No lengthy phrases and offerings need be said nor sacrifices be presented although it will not harm to do so too. Prayer is as according to one's faith and belief. But prayer need not be much of a burden for anyone to do. A whisper or a silent tear can be a prayer too. All that is needed or ever could be needed is already there in the heart. Pray with it.

Though the different ways of praying, still only the heart knows how best to pray. Only the heart can send off a plea carried by throngs of angels straight to the Holy Throne. Only an earnest heartfelt pleading is heard loud and clear reverberating in the sacred halls of God's kingdom. And only in the heart is where you are authentically genuinely you in prayer.

"When you pray, rather let your heart be without words than your words without heart." --- John Bunyan

"I have come to know that God can smooth my path, calm the storms, keep me and all I care about safe, and even make my way simple when I ask Him to carry the complexities of life for me. But these things don’t just happen. Not without prayer." --- Stormie Omartian, author of The Power Of A Praying Woman

THE GREEN GRASS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE HAS ITS OWN WEEDS TO FIGHT

I remember one lunch I had some months back with my best friends. 'Twas the usual monthly get-together lunch we usually have for our group. Conversation would flow easily on any random subject brought in by anyone. This was one such thought brought to the table.....

"Was there a time when you wished that you had the life of your next door neighbor who seems all well-placed in all the areas of her life... work, family, success, career, prosperity??"

That question drew a momentary blank stare from us all. I guess that frozen moment disclosed and simply confirmed that yes we did. Yes, we all do at some point or another in our lives. Who doesn't?! Whether we do it in our dreams or every time she-the-neighbor-in-her-smart-business suit passes by our window driving her car to work.

Human nature. We haven't really learned not to long for the greener pastures outside our fence despite our mother's warnings. To the average woman then and now (or for any person for that matter male or female), it always looks more enticing, attractive, challenging, promising, fulfilling ... than our shaggy apron, pots and pans, milk bottles, children in public schools, and a husband toiling bravely on a minimum wage pay.

Then Cynthia spoke up --- 'Well, 'think she's happy? Meaning really happy.'

Glenda followed it up with ---- 'We'll never know. But I know that she ain't any different from the rest of us with our dozens of issues in the home, marriage, in-laws, husbands and raising our children. Including that of our personal demons we have battled almost all of our lives and still do with a few left over.'

To that Myrtle replied ---- 'Oho then she IS human too??! By golly, let's drink to that!!' and raised her Sprite in can with two straws in it. She always takes two straws with her soft drinks!

The grass may look greener on the other side of the fence... but it too has to battle the weeds that also makes its home on the same turf.
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Have a good Friday, folks! :-)

WHO ARE WE WITH OUR ATTITUDE

-- So what's on my mind today?

It is this.... on the subject of attitude

"Our attitude toward the world around us depends upon what we are ourselves. If we are selfish, we will be suspicious of others. If we are of a generous nature, we will be likely to be more trustful. If we are quite honest with ourselves, , we won't always be anticipating deceit in others. If we are inclined to be fair, we won't feel that we are being cheated. In a sense, looking at the people around you is like looking in a mirror. You see a reflection of yourself." ----- Lifted from the book Maybe It's Time To Laugh Again -- by Charles R. Swindoll

Grandma would always caution her grandchildren, that's me and a dozen others, to take care of our attitudes. The world is how you see it and how you see it is dictated by your attitude. Whenever there was a misstep from any one of us, that would incur her special look. A look which all of us hoped and prayed wouldn't be directed at us, singly or collectively. She got us straightened out alright, a good support to the training we already had in the home.

But soon enough children grow up to be adults and the world has its ways with them. Attitudes take on a different color, become diluted or dissolved, change skin and tone, get replaced, or erased (now that's a sorry state). Sometimes sadly one discovers that what was once .. isn't anymore. Attitudes change, so I've been told.

Maybe, maybe not. I can't speak for others but only for myself. I still am that kid who stood before grandma listening to her lectures and ofttimes getting her special look. I see the world and understand that there is both good and bad in it. I understand too that other people will reflect both the good and the bad in me. And vice versa. It's true, the mirror works both ways. But if perfection is your goal, that can only be seen at the end of our earthly journey. I think God isn't finished with anyone of us yet.

But I have the choice to choose what to believe or trust or cherish. And try as hard to be what I believe. And if the world would speak up and tell me that isn't right. I won't believe it. I only have to remember grandma who knew better. Thanks, grandma.!
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It's a rainy Thursday today but blessings still abound in it, maybe just a little bit soaked and wet. :-) God bless you all!

LOVE FROM UNEXPECTED PLACES

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My thoughts on this fine sunny morning are on the beauty of friendship and of finding love in unexpected places. Here's something I found in my inbox that pretty well illustrates it magnificently.

To quote:
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The Law Of The Wild says kill only when you are hungry

Photographer Michel Denis-Huot, who captured these amazing pictures on safari in Kenya 's Masai Mara in October last year, said he was astounded by what he saw:

"These three brothers (cheetahs) have been living together since they left their mother at about 18 months old,' he said. 'On the morning we saw them, they seemed not to be hungry, walking quickly but stopping sometimes to play together. 'At one point, they met a group of impala who ran away.. But one youngster was not quick enough and .... The brothers caught it easily'."

But something else happened....
This was caught on camera.

And then they just walked away without hurting him...

Message: Life is short... Forgive quickly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably...and never regret anything that made you smile.

Unquote.
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Imagine finding love and friendship in unexpected places from humans, with humans?

We're so quick to defend our turf when we feel threatened. But we don't first stop to think that perhaps the other person is just as scared as you feeling the same threat to his life too. Blessed is he who first sees with his heart.... and then responds accordingly with his mind. They say that heroes do it. But ..... isn't it that there's a hero inside us just waiting to be called forth? Everyday holds opportunities to be heroes; we just don't look hard enough. Sometimes it's right here with our families in our own homes. Are you seeing it?
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Blessings to you and your day.

WE SUFFER PRIMARILY FROM OUR ILLUSIONS

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Quotes do better with things we would like to say ourselves. But looking hard at it you will see that it is written or comes from the thoughts of men and women just like you and me. Good quotes travel through the years, some add to it or remove from it ... it takes on a different flavor in different hands which try to inject some freshness into it. But the basic thought behind it is always the same. So it's like saying old things in new ways and differently. But I much prefer to seek out its authenticity and origin adding nor removing nothing from it. An original quote is a treasure. And equally so is its author. Remember when you bring in a quote, to quote his or her name too. Giving credit where its due increases its worth... and you.

I like quotes because it provides the missing word or thought I could be struggling with as I do my writing. Here's one quote I'd like to share with you, sent to me by a good friend.

--- "We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in their place." --- (Daniel Boorstin)
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Illusions... oh but we have plenty -- of ourselves, of others, of our world. Sometimes we gauge our actual lives or decisions off it. Sometimes it defines in some measure our expectations, beliefs, hopes, and dreams. Sometimes it stunts us, makes us lose our way, makes us believe that we're getting somewhere but really are not. Illusions.