LIFE IS A GIFT

Feeling...

...put upon?

...alienated?

...angry?

Then let these words sent by a very wise religious brother, sink in.

And then, proceed with your day!


Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today before you complain about life -Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before you complain about your children -Think of someone who desires children but they're barren.

Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.

But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another...

Remember...

that not one of us is without faults and we all answer to one MAKER.

And, when depressing thoughts seem to get you down...

Put a smile on your face and thank GOD you're alive and still around to see another day!

LENT 2010

BUSY - A Thought Provoking E-mail I Received Today

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said,

"We can't keep Christians from going to church.

We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth.

We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their savior.

Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.

So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ."

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:

"Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.

Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles.

Keep them from spending time with their children.

As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!

Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.

Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive.

To keep the TV, VCR, Cd's and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly.

This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.

Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers.

Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.

Invade their driving moments with billboards.

Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.

Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives.

Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night.

Give them headaches too!

If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere.

That will fragment their families quickly!

Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas.

Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death.

Even in their recreation, let them be excessive.

Have them return from their recreation exhausted.

Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead.

Keep them busy, busy, busy!

And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences.

Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus.

Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.

It will work!

It will work!"

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.

Having little time for their God or their families.

Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?

YOU be the judge!

Does "BUSY" mean:

B-eing

U-nder

S-atan's

Y-oke?

~ Author Unknown ~

My Lord God,

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain when it will end.

Nor do I really know myself.

And the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean I am actually following Your will.

But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You.

And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this You will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.

~ Thomas Merton ~
Thoughts in Solitude

We are now six days into a new year...SO, how are you doing with those resolutions made in the merriment of New Year's Eve?

At the beginning of each New Year, it is assumed we will look inside ourselves and make a list of flaws to be worked on...fixed...removed.

We make big plans to change, and then inevitably become overwhelmed, fall back into old patterns, and leave our best intentions at the curb.

While we should always seek to improve ourselves, our faith, our health, and our relationships, this year, I suggest we not dwell on the negative aspects of these areas of our lives...but, instead let us make a list of everything we are doing right with them.

Let our New Year's Resolution be to build upon all the goodness we already are, have, and are doing.

As we keep building...good upon good...and, taking time to recognize it, we will grow a more positive attitude, squeeze out the negatives, and leave them at the curb instead.

All-powerful God,

increase our strength of will for doing good

that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming

and call us to his side in the kingdom of heaven

where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Twenty-ten is only 6 days old...it's not too late!

I wish YOU a New Year filled with all goodness and blessings!!

Christianity is not a voice in the wilderness, but a life in the world.

It is not a idea in the air but feet on the ground, going Gods way.

It is not an exotic to be kept under glass, but a hardy plant to bear twelve months of fruits in all kinds of weather. Fidelity to duty its roots and branch.

Nothing we can say to the Lord, no calling Him by great or dear names, can take the place of the plain doing of His will.

We may cry about the duty of eating bread with Him in His kingdom, but it is wasted bread and rootless hope, unless we plant and plow in His kingdom here and now.

To remember Him at His table and to forget Him at ours, is to have invested in bad securities.

There is no substitute for plain, everyday goodness.

~Author Unknown~

THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

As one liturgical year comes to an end, and another begins next week with the First Sunday of Advent, it is time to reflect...on how our relationship with Christ has grown...or weakened...over the last twelve months.

Have we kept Christ as the King of our hearts...our souls...and our lives?

Have our words and actions loving shown this truth to others?

OR...

Have we made ourselves the king...or queen...of our own universe?

Have our words and actions shown to others a love of dominance above all else?

Is it always YOUR way or the highway...in your family and professional relationships?

Can YOU bend with circumstances...or...do YOU bend circumstances to suit YOURSELF?

Do YOU always have to have the last word?

Are YOU always right...in spite of what the facts may prove?

The time is right to change that dynamic...to put Christ back where He belongs...as the King of YOUR heart...YOUR soul...and YOUR life!

Turn back to Christ...give Him back His rightful place in YOUR life...the time is NOW!

FOR DOG LOVERS

I CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY!!

My younger son and I love the television show "Monk." In this week's episode, Mr. Monk was talking with Randy Disher about how even when everyone pokes fun at him and gives him a hard time, Randy is always good natured. Randy explained that years earlier on a case, he saw a bumper sticker that read:

"CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY."

As the show went on, Mr. Monk...obsessively, obsessively compulsive...took this advice to heart...and...even after getting bad news...literally danced out of a courtroom and almost did a Fred Astaire on a bench in the hallway...all the while repeating: "I choose to be happy."

Yesterday was my 49th birthday. I always enjoy it more when a birthday falls on a weekend, because in my house that means we celebrate ALL weekend long...a veritable holiday weekend for the birthday boy or girl.

It isn't grand or expensive...just three days of doing the favorite things and eating the favorite foods of the birthday person.

In this case...ME!

And so, it was...God...family...barbecue...the arcade...relaxation...and, a triple chocolate birthday cake from my favorite bakery.

All weekend long, I kept hearing Mr. Monk repeating: "I choose to be happy." That simple phrase, became the mantra for my birthday weekend between my younger son and I.

The past few years at my house have been difficult:

illness...anger...helplessness...death...sadness...irrationality...threats...drama...and the ultimate realization that there are always those among us, who...no matter what we may say or do...cannot love or respect us...because, they simply have not yet learned how to love or respect themselves.

Today, as I begin my 50th year on earth...I am adopting Mr. Monk's motto for this next part of my life:

"I CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY!!"

To paraphrase Mother Teresa: it is never between me and THEM...it is...and...always has been...and...always will be...between me and GOD!


God wants me to be happy.


I choose to be so!


How about YOU?


God wants YOU to be happy, too!


Say it...

in your head...

out loud...

or...

dancing down the hallway, a la Fred Astaire...

but...

just say it:


"I CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY!!!"


Then...make it so!


God Bless YOU!!

MY PRAYER

Heavenly Father,

Open my ears that I may hear You,
My eyes that I may see You,
My mind that I may come to know You better,
My heart that I may love You more deeply, and
My soul that I may have eternal life in Your loving caress.

Amen.

GOD IN THE STREETS

We are called to see Christ in everyone...everywhere...always...and...forever.

Sometimes, however, it is nearly impossible to recognize...to tune in to...Christ...in the person in front of us at a particular moment.

Anger...fear...sadness...misconceptions...mental illness...all these things...and more...blur the presence of Christ in the other we are encountering.

And so, we avoid....we ignore...we fight back...we lash out...in reaction to the other's behavior.

Yet, our faith is not re-active...but rather...pro-active.

Sure we will fall...sin...at times...and, we will have many excuses..."I'm tired"..."I don't feel well"..."it's not fair"..."he shouldn't have said that"..."she shouldn't have done that"..."it was supposed to be ME"...and on...and on...and on.

But, will we rise up...reconcile and move on...or...will we fall even further?

While the clip above shows Eucharistic Procession through the streets: the Real Presence of Christ in procession among us...in our everyday life, we encounter Christ in EVERYONE we meet...the good...the bad...the ugly...the infuriating.

The question is:

Will YOU recognize Him before it's too late?

Will I?