Monday, October 25, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Enchanted
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Monday (November /22): "She out of her poverty put in all the living that she had"
Scripture: Luke 21:1-4
1 He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. 3 And he said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4 for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had."
Meditation: Do you know the joy of selfless giving and love for others? True love doesn't calculate; it spends lavishly! Jesus drove this point home to his disciples while sitting in the temple and observing people offering their tithes. Jesus praised a poor widow who gave the smallest of coins in contrast with the rich who gave greater sums. How can someone in poverty give more than someone who has ample means? Jesus' answer is very simple: love is more precious than gold or wealth! Jesus taught that real giving must come from the heart. A gift that is given with a grudge or for display loses its value. But a gift given out of love, with a spirit of generosity and sacrifice, is precious. The amount or size of the gift doesn't matter as much as the cost to the giver. The poor widow could have kept one of her coins, but instead she recklessly gave away all she had! Jesus praised someone who gave barely a penny – how insignificant a sum – because it was everything she had, her whole living. What we have to offer may look very small and not worth much, but if we put all we have at the Lord's disposal, no matter how insignificant it may seem, then God can do with it and with us what is beyond our reckoning. Do you give out of love and gratitude for what God has already given to you?
"Lord Jesus, your love knows no bounds and you give without measure. All that I have comes from you. May I give freely and generously in gratitude for all that you have given to me. Take my life and all that I possess – my gifts, talents, time and resources – and use them as you see fit for your glory."
Thursday (October 21): "I came to cast fire upon the earth"
49 "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; 52 for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."
Monday, October 18, 2010
God wants you to know...
Family (one of)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Miracles happen every moment of our lives
from God Wants You to Know
Dear Lord..
Monday, October 11, 2010
I couldn't have made it to the church any faster, even if I'd had a car. I took every shortcut I could, racing through people's backyards, jumping fences, and in one case cutting through someone's garage and out the side door. Everything I'd learned about the town growing up came into play, and although I was never a particularly good athlete, on this day I was unstoppable, propelled by what I had to do. I didn't care how I looked when I arrived because I suspected Hegbert wouldn't care, either."
"Even more than I, perhaps, he had to keep up his spirits around Jamie, and the stress of doing so was wearing him down."
"She was pale, so very pale, but her smile let me know she was still fighting. "
" I cannot adequately describe the intensity of what I was feeling at that moment. Love, anger, sadness, hope, and fear, whirling together, sharpened by the nervousness I was feeling."
"In my mind it was the first time God had ever spoken directly to me, and I knew with certainty that I wasn't going to disobey."
"I know that some of you may wonder if I was doing it out of pity. Some of the more cynical may even wonder if I did it because shed be gone soon anyway and I wasn't committing much. The answer to both questions is no. I would have married Jamie Sullivan no matter what happened in the future. I would have married Jamie Sullivan if the miracle I was praying for had suddenly come true. I knew it at the moment I asked her, and I still know it today."
'In the South its a tradition to have your father beside you, but for me its a tradition that wouldnt have had much meaning before Jamie came into my life. "
'Though Beaufort has changed and I have changed, the air itself has not. Its still the air of my childhood, the air of my seventeenth year, and when I finally exhale, I'm fifty-seven once more. But this is okay. I smile slightly, looking toward the sky, knowing there's one thing I still haven't told you: I now believe, by the way, that miracles can happen. "