THE HEART IS THE LANGUAGE OF GOD

"It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason." ----- Blaise Pascal

The reason why it seems so difficult to believe in God and in what He does for us is because we put our reason in so many other places.... except in the heart. We believe reason for what we think it is as being logical... making sense which we, who consider ourselves very bright smart and intelligent, pride ourselves to understand.

But when is believing in God or having truth faith ever logical or scientific or making sense in terms the human mind alone agrees to? When is it ever bad that in praying to God you sometimes don't get what you want but what you need? Did the world end for you when you cried or were miserable or so depressed over the way things turned out sourly in your life? Did you stop living because you failed, not once but many times? Did it destroy you because you lost a loved one or precious thing?

The answer is NO to all that. Because look at you now. How'd you get there.. where you are at this point in time? Do you think you got there by your own strength, effort, wisdom? Partly perhaps but even that God provided you with. When you lacked strength, He gave you His. How do you explain how you rise up with every fall? How can you explain this when you find hope - help - change .. from nothing at all? How do you explain that despite the numerous mistakes you have made, still you are being blessed with so much more good?

When God answers prayer He answers it with His eyes on your heart.... to what is contained in there. True needs rest in the heart in silence -- a silence God alone understands. So no matter what you may think in your head which often translates itself into your words, it is not what totally nudges God to move. You see the mind and the heart are two separate things, the reason why ofttimes we find ourselves at crossroads in our lives. What moves the heavens is THE heart.

See God with your heart. And if you don't know it still ---- the heart is the language of God.

May God pour out blessings beyond measure upon you and your loved ones, near and far.


P. S. A thought and prayer for November 01 - All Saints' Day .... May the heavens welcome our dear departed ones into the presence of our magnificent God through His Son Jesus Christ. Mother Mary, pray for us the living and those who have passed.

THE GUTTER CAN'T STOP US FROM LOOKING UP AT THE STARS

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde

Oh I like this quote. See and feel the positive note in there? That's where we should focus our lives on.

Gutter is such an ugly word. For instance ---- the vulgar, sordid, unprincipled gutter mind, gutter emotion, gutter intelligence, gutter spirituality, and the physical gutter that's messing up the face of the earth.

It has its way with us because often we tend to fear it, ignore it, tell jokes about it, or tolerate it ------ more than we would even try to or attempt to lift a finger to resist it, fight it, expose it, censure it.

Luckily some of us have found the secret to rise above it -- overcome it -- or bash it down to smithereens! By fearlessly lighting the candle of HOPE in their hearts.

We are made free by keeping our hope - faith - courage - optimism - positivity - and dreams alive. And move our lives forward by living and acting on those principles.

A star-studded sky. Keep looking. Find your star. It's just there waiting for you. Besides there's enough for everybody.

Blessings!

WRITE BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE CAN OR WILL WRITE IT FOR YOU

To someone out there who has this huge dream, or even the smallest dream of writing.... allow me to say this .........

Write because nobody else can or will write it for you.

Your talent is not meant to be stored away in a dark corner languishing in anonymity. If you are afraid that people may not like it nor read it. That's the least of your problem. What should concern you is what your heart is nudging you to do. And if it says 'write'.... then listen to it and write. Write for the joy of writing. Write because you love to write. Write because you have something to say. Write because it feeds your dreams and your soul.

And don't worry about making mistakes, to do a good thing well you have to make some mistakes along the way. But learn and learn well. Don't fake it; write what you know. And remember that a good piece of writing is one which a reader after reading comes out of it thinking. And when he does that --- Congratulations! you done well where it truly matters! You have made the connection.

Believe that you can....... and you certainly can!!
Good luck! Blessings to you.

JUDGE NOT SO YOU BE NOT JUDGED

I don't know who said this, wasn't mentioned in the email I received. But it's sure one good quote. What it says is this ----- "You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him."

Now as I understand it we are more inclined to listen to what people say about others and from there make our own judgment about that person. I used to, that was before I learned that people are not always correct in their judgements. That includes myself. No kidding abut that.

Until on this one particular day (in high school) when I found my big BIG lesson. This friend, let's call her Patty, was singing praises about her other friend -- speaking with such high adulation about Wendy's achievements, her sweet temperament, being smart, and etc etc etc. Added that I should meet her. Okay, I was curious now to meet this person who seemed to be after my job as best friend to Patty.

So we met. Pretty, big brown eyes, long black hair, fair skin. She would stick out in a crowd indeed. And we girls talked the usual 'girl talk'. Clothes, shoes, handbags, cute boys, brownies and ice cream, monster teachers. And I sat there and listened intently to her chatter. She knew the latest fashion trends, knew almost every high school boy worth knowing, and carried on a monologue on the worst teachers she met alongside some of the girls she considered boring - bland - stupid - geeky - ugly - lousy dressers - and weird.

Then it hit me hard like a huge rock to my head --- she wasn't the girl Patty so admired after all. What came out of her mouth belied the nice smart sweet person Patty praised so highly to me. She was pretty alright.... but her mind and heart was not!

When I got back home that day I thought about Wendy. If I may have in the past sounded like her spewing out negative jibes at people and things, then the people listening to me right there would have reacted towards me so much the same as I had reacted towards Wendy. Awful, isn't it?!!

Well, to cut a long story short, this one high school girl learned one big lesson out of school that day. Sometimes the best lessons can be found outside the classroom too without the help of books.

My Favorite Song

AS TIME GOES BY
(From the movie Casablanca)
Played on the piano by Fabrizio Caligaris

Lyrics:

You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.

And when two lovers woo
They still say, "I love you."
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by.

Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date.
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate.
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny.

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die.
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.

(Sorry, folks, but the owner of the first video posted was removed. Here's another version as beautifully played as the first one. Just click on the title song. )

IN MEMORY OF MOM

"Lettre à ma mère" - by Richard Clayderman

I want to do this for my mother. This piece translated means 'Letter to my mother'. What can you say to your mother... no words suffice for what's in the heart. So many plans I had planned for her but God to my sadness had something else in mind. He took her away and just when I needed her most.... and just when the dreams were almost in my hands. So close -- almost there. But when it did come ... it came to an empty heart, an irreplaceable inconsolable void. Still is, always will be. My heart aches with her memory. Nope, don't need nor wait for a Mother's Day because each time she comes to my mind is a 'Mother's Day' to me. And that's for as long as life is.

WHAT A DOG AND A CAT CAN DO TO YOUR IMPORTANCE

"In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him." -- Unknown

Love that quote. I go back to it every time my human impulse is to revel in vanity or ego. Oh yes, we all do that secretly or blatantly. Humanly natural. But it can become quite annoying when we take it so seriously. Otherwise it simply comes and goes.... just like a good pat on the shoulder for a job well done.

We are important only as we see that importance from the perspective of doing what is expected of us as intelligent creatures above our four-legged brothers. And essentially important as we are able to see ourselves as God sees us. Can't fool the Big Guy upstairs.

My pet dog Maxie adores me and I revel in her adoration and adulation... I'm important to her. I'm great to her world.

My cat Miko is the exact opposite... I could go walk by him in all of my human splendor and importance and he would just sleep through that experience. Yawns at my face sometimes.

Maxie sends me off to cloud 9; Miko puts me back on the ground.

Importance -- it's not the be-all and end-all of everything nor of you. That is all that we need to know about that word.

IN REMEMBERING MY TEACHER

"An understanding heart is everything in a teacher, and cannot be esteemed highly enough. One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feeling. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child." --- Carl Jung

I have been blessed with good teachers.... well, most of them. Cause we do know that sometimes you get one odd thing in the same bunch. They were good, brilliant. Drove home the lessons well with their teaching, books, homework. Learning from them was great.

But one stood out... a nice sweet simple petite lady who stood out not only for her brilliance but for the warmth injected in her teaching. The class wasn't just a roll call of names. She connected heart to heart. I often felt that it was almost like she was reading my mind every time she caught me looking at her when a subject was being discussed. "Okay, Ellen, what's on your mind?" And again when my mind strayed to something far away unrelated to the subject at hand. She'd ask "What's on your mind now?"

I like hearing those words from her. Nobody asked it the way she did. I felt that I mattered, that whatever it was I was having trouble with.... it's going to be alright somehow. She made me feel that I was someone, that I was not a weird odd nutty person thinking my thoughts about the universe... about people, good and bad... about life and its mysteries... and about the challenges of living in my tiny corner of the world. I was a person, not just a name. She saw me, she knew me, and understood me. She cared. She was all heart and the mind just followed close behind it.

I learned much more from her than the other dozen or so. She not only nourished my mind... but too my soul. God bless her.

WHEN PRAYER TOUCH ATTITUDE

"Sometimes Prayer doesn't change the situation,

but it changes our attitude towards the situation
and gives us the hopes which changes our entire life."
- Unknown.

Saw this quote in my notes this morning. Beautiful one, isn't it? You know this is also true. But I don't mean that God never answers our prayers. He does but in different ways -- 'wait' 'later' 'not today' 'let's try something else'. Now we all know that, don't we?

This quote though tells us about prayer and attitude. An exquisite truth to learn and keep. And I think that is what prayer really does to us apart from nudging us to up our faith. Prayer alters the way we see our problems, our worrisome struggles or trials, our anxious wants and desires. No, it does not banish them all to never-to-return-again. The problems stay there as real as your pizza pie. But it restores your appetite for the pizza pie and eventually you would devour it leaving simply bits and shreds in the box. By the way, I love pizzas too.

Prayer makes you see things differently. It somehow opens a door which all this time remained closed as your heart and mind battled with your perceived curse. Prayer opens it and takes you through that door and all seems like new --- All that you feel inside you. You feel hope, quiet joy, bigger faith, rock-like trust, renewed courage and strength. You see heaven and your day from a new set of eyes - a faithful heart - an enlightened mind.

Doesn't that give you all the reason you may need to pray?

Pray as you are - wherever you are - for whatever need and reason. God always hears. Be it a quiet whisper or a silent sigh or a lonely tear in the dark of the night. Bring your heart to God. He knows what to do with it.

May you all have God's blessings to your prayers.