Category: actions

And it was good

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“People of faith do not gt much help in thinking of their ordinary, physical lives as being particularly sacred.”     Barbara Brown Taylor

creationgood

Do you think of yourself as being sacred? I don’t know that I ever have. The truth is we are! God created us in his own image. We are a part of the whole creation and every part of it is sacred. Each day of creation we hear the words “and it was good.” God was clear about that. Everything in creation is sacred including us. Now we just have to believe it and live it out.

God of creation, you made us in your image and said “it is good.” All that you created is sacred. Help us to live as sacred people.

 

Send me?

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Whom shall I send? Is it I Lord?                           from the hymn Here I am Lord

Sometimes we are brave enough to actually ask God to send us. When we do we don’t know what might happen. It is certainly possible that he will call on us to do something that surprises us. I may be something that we never expected and might not really want to do. Are you strong enough to say: send me?

We are not really sure that we want to answer God’s call. We may not be ready to do it. Lord let us not be afraid to ask and answer.

hee I am lord

Are we holy?

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“Holy” has the same root as “wholly”: it means complete. A man is not complete in spiritual stature if all his mind, heart, soul, strength are not given to God.                  R. J. H. Stewart

holyWe seldom think about what we give to God. Are we willing to let go of our whole person to God? This quote doesn’t mention body but I think it is contained in “strength.” We have to surrender everything. How do we do that? By letting go of small pieces at a time. Give up what you can each day and every day.

We are so caught up in ourselves that we can’t step outside. In order to be holy and whole we have to give everything. Loving God help us.

Learn and grow

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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.       Proverbs 1:7

We can’t ever stop learning. God gave us our brains for a reason. By learning we grow. Don’t be afraid to study and learn new ideas and new thoughts. There is so much that we can learn and never grow close to knowing all about God. His wisdom is so far above ours.

live learn

Jesus, we learn so much from your teaching. Help us to continue to seek knowledge and growth that we may draw closer to you. AMEN

Choose the difficult path

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Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.  G.K. Chesterton

difficult road

Have we really tried to follow Jesus. For most of us its’ not that we don’t know how to be good Christians. We will do the little things. We will try to be kind to each other. – except when it gets in our way. We will give away things to Goodwill- things that we don’t need any more. We will pledge money to the church – but not so much that we don’t have enough for what we want. So we do follow Jesus –sort of. We wold’t want to be fanatics after all.

Help us Lord, not to be half-way Christians. Give us the courage to step out of the norm and be fanatics for you. AMEN

Live like Christ

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Being Christian is more than dying with Christ it is living with him. Suzanne Boyd

Sometimes we focus on the death of Christ and the resurrection. These are important parts of the story but not all. Christ calls us to live with him…..to live like him. His words tell us to seek the kingdom of God and then he shows us how to do it.

live like ChristLoving Christ, you show us so clearly how to live to find God’s kingdom. May we seek your way always. AMEN

Silence

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When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing – just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park? Ralph Marston

silence 2

We are so busy all the time. Our life is spent with electronics. Phones, computers, etc. How often do we sit in silence and do absolutely nothing. God says “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

Take the time to be silent.

Patient God, you wait for us to sit in silence and wait for you and yet we seldom slow down. Help us to seek you in silence. AMEN

Are we living the plan?

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The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others. Albert Schweitzer

Are we ready to do what Jesus did? Are we willing to put ourselves out there and help the poor, the homeless, the disenfranchised? Can we really see the dirty, ragged man on the street? Do we turn away in disgust? Do we judge?

life question

I think at times we do all of those things. It is not easy to live the life that Christ did. He is still the babe in the manger but soon…..very soon he will be on his journey to teach us how to live. Get ready!

Compassionate Jesus, we don’t always understand that you have given us a map for our lives. Help us to live it out.

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I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. Charles Dickens
True Meaning Of Christmas Jesus – Happy Holidays! in What Is The True Meaning Of Christmas

Here is the core of Christmas. It is not just a special day in the year. It is not a holiday to give gifts. It is not about Santa Claus and reindeer. It is not about trees and lights.

Christmas is about the amazing love of God and his gift of his son. On Christmas day we have “God with us.”

Amazing God, we need to focus on the reason for this holiday. Christ must be the center of our thoughts. Help us to not forget. AMEN

“Comparisons are odious”

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comparissons

My favorite author, Madeleine L’Engle says: “Comparisons are odious.” This works in several different ways. Do we spend time comparing ourselves to others and falling short? Do we compare to prove that we are better than. Comparisons hurt. It hurts us if we end up feeling unworthy. It hurts us in a different way if we see ourselves as better than others. In this country our founding fathers said the “all men (women also) were created equal and endowed with their creator certain inalienable rights…..etc.

Lear not to make comparisons. They hurt no matter what.

Creating God, you planned for to stay away from comparisons. You know their power to create pain. Help us to see all mankind as equal. AMEN