Prayer

Almighty God, I humbly pray,
Lead me, guide me through this day.
Cast out my selfishness and sin,
Open my heart to let You in.

Help me now as I blindly stray
Over the pitfalls along the way.
Let me have courage to face each task,
Invest me with loving patience, I ask.

Care for me through each hour today,
Strengthen and guard me now, I pray.
As I forgive, forgive me too,
Needing Your mercy as I do.

Oh, give to me Your loving care,
Never abandon me to despair.
Yesterday's wrongs I would seek to right,
Make me more perfect in Your sight.

Oh, teach me to live the best I can,
Use me to help my fellow man.
Save me from acts of bitter shame,
I humbly ask it in Your name.

Kindness

"Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting." 

~ Mother Teresa

May You Always Feel Loved

May you find serenity and tranquility
in a world you may not always understand.

May the pain you have known
and the conflict you have experienced
give you the strength to walk through life
facing each new situation with courage and optimism.

Always know that there are those
whose love and understanding will always be there,
even when you feel most alone.

May a kind word,
a reassuring touch,
and a warm smile
be yours every day of your life,
and may you give these gifts
as well as receive them.

May the teachings of those you admire
become part of you,
so that you may call upon them.

Remember, those whose lives you have touched
and who have touched yours
are always a part of you,
even if the encounters were less than you would have wished.
It is the content of the encounter
that is more important than its form.

May you not become too concerned with material matters,
but instead place immeasurable value
on the goodness in your heart.
Find time in each day to see beauty and love
in the world around you.

Realize that what you feel you lack in one regard
you may be more than compensated for in another.
What you feel you lack in the present
may become one of your strengths in the future.
May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility.
Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience.

May you find enough inner strength
to determine your own worth by yourself,
and not be dependent
on another's judgment of your accomplishments.

May you always feel loved.

May God's Blessings Abound in your life!

~ Sandra Sturtz Hauss

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s second reading from 2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15, St Paul elaborates on the Judeo-Christian understanding of equality. Referencing regulations regarding the distribution of manna, St Paul reminded his readers in Corinth and he reminds us that “[Christ] became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” He goes on to explain, “Not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their needs, so that their abundance may also supply your needs, that there may be equality.” This is because God was generous to the Israelites in the distribution of manna. In Exodus 16:16-18, Moses tells us that God provided exactly what was needed for each person no more, no less, regardless of their status.

Jesus practiced the same level of generosity when he responded to the pleas of Jairus, a synagogue official and an unnamed woman who was practically an outcast. Both Jairus and the woman humbly approach Jesus in faith believing in his power; Jairus seeking healing for his daughter and the woman seeking healing for herself. Jesus responded to both of them with magnanimity and compassion. Jesus was the most egalitarian person ever on this earth. In his eyes each human person was and is equal to every other person. No one is better than anyone else and everyone who petitions Jesus in faith and humility will have their needs met.

On Thursday July 4th we will celebrate the 248th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The second paragraph of the Declaration begins, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness…” Over the course of the past two hundred and forty-eight years many people have sacrificed their lives to preserve these self-evident truths that citizens of the United States believe in so passionately. As we begin our celebrations this year, please stop and remember those who have gone before us, those who have given their lives for this Country and those who will spend Independence Day serving us in the armed forces.

God of all nations,

Father of the human family,

we give you thanks for the freedom we exercise

and the many blessings of democracy we enjoy

in these United States of America.

A Quarter Too Much

Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Houston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.

As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, "You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it." Then he thought, "Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a 'gift from God' and keep quiet."

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, "Here, you gave me too much change."

The driver, with a smile, replied, "Aren't you the new preacher in town? I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you at church on Sunday."

When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, "Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter."

Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read. This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as Christians and will put us to the test! Always be on guard and remember that you carry the name of Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself "Christian."

Watch your thoughts; they become words. 

Watch your words; they become actions. 

Watch your actions; they become habits. 

Watch your habits; they become character. 

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not PROTECT you.

Stay FAITHFUL and Be GRATEFUL.

Never Grow Weary

In the Second Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul ends a long, challenging admonition by stating: You must never grow weary of doing what is right.

All of us experience tension in our lives: tension in our families, tension in our friendships, tension in our places of work, tension in our churches, tension in our communities, and tension within our conversations around other people, politics, and current events. And, being good-hearted people, we carry that tension with patience, respect, graciousness, and forbearance – for a while!

Then, at a certain point we feel ourselves stretched to the limit, grow weary of doing what is right, feel something snap inside of us, and hear some inner-voice say: Enough! I’ve put up with this too long! I won’t tolerate this anymore!

And we let go. We let go of patience, respect, graciousness, and forbearance, either by venting and giving back in kind or simply by fleeing the situation with an attitude of good riddance. Either way, we refuse to carry the tension any longer.

Mature parents put up with a lot of tension in raising their children. Mature teachers put up with a lot of tension in trying to open the minds and hearts of their students. Mature friends absorb a lot of tension in remaining faithful to each other.

Men and women are noble of character precisely when they can walk with patience, respect, graciousness, and forbearance amid crushing and unfair tensions, when they never grow weary of doing what is right.

But all of this will not be easy. It’s the way of long loneliness, with many temptations to let go and slip away. But, if we persevere and never grown weary of doing what is right, at our funeral, those who knew us will be blessed and grateful that we continued to believe in them even when for a time they had stopped believing in themselve​s.

In Other Words

In promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalizes, and amicable philosophical or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderous while letting your conversational communications possess a compacted conciseness, a clarified comprehensibility, a coalescent cogency, and a concatenated consistency. Be sure to eschew obfuscation and all conglomerations of flatulent garrulity, jejune rabblement, and asinine affectations. Maintain your extemporaneous descanting and unpremeditated expatiation's have intelligibility and voracious vivacity without rodomontade or thrasonical bombast. Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pompous prolificacy, and vain vapid verbosity.

...in other words: say what you mean, mean what you say, and don't use big words!

Take, Lord, and Receive

Take, Lord, and receive

All my liberty,

My memory,

My understanding

And my entire will,

All that I have and possess.

You have given all to me,

To you, Lord, I return it.

All is yours;

Do with it what you will.

Give me only your love and your grace,

That is enough for me.

~ From the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola

Cup of Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, and some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

After all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

“Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it's just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups. And then began eyeing each other's cups.

“Now consider this: Life is the coffee; and the jobs, money, and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.”

God brews the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy your coffee​!

You are Accepted

It strikes us when, year after year, the longed for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage.

Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks through our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying, “You are accepted.”

YOU ARE ACCEPTED, accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which you do not know.

Do not ask for the name now, perhaps you will know it later.
Do not try to do anything, perhaps later you will do much.
Do not seek for anything,
Do not perform anything,
Do not intend anything.

Simply accept the fact you are accepted.​

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

There is an old Chinese proverb that says “In nature there are unexpected storms; in life there are unpredictable vicissitudes.”   Tempests in life, natural and emotional, are inevitable.  They will happen.  They are capricious, they come suddenly and unexpectedly. And, they are impartial.  Storms happen to all of us as we are reminded in Matthew 5:45, God our Father “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”  

The issue presented to us in today’s readings from Job 38:1, 8-11, Psalm 107 and Mark 4:35-41 is: how do we respond to the storms  or vicissitudes in our lives?  Do we respond out of fear or out of faith?   Clearly the disciples in today’s gospel respond to the storm they encounter with fear – and they have Jesus in the boat with them!   When bad things happen, when storms break over us, it is easy to forget that God is in control.  Jesus asks the disciples and he asks us “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

All of these readings remind us that God is in charge of the forces in our world. God sets limits; God will not let us drown; God calms the storms in our lives. We have to trust that God will intercede to calm the storms and we have to believe that our Heavenly Father is a God of love.  St. John tells us in 1 John 4:18 “there is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear.”

God of the storm,
at creation's dawn
you set the bounds of the sea
and stilled the raging of its waves.

God of the calm,
in Jesus the Teacher
you rebuked the wind
and set the sea at rest.
Calm our fears now.
Stir up our faith,
that we may gladly lend our hands
to your work of making the whole creation new!

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.

AMEN

Self-Definition

I do not define myself by how many roadblocks have appeared in my path.

I define myself by the courage I’ve found to forge new roads.

I do not define myself by how many disappointments I’ve faced.
I define myself by the forgiveness and the faith I have found to begin again.

I do not define myself by how long a relationship lasted.
I define myself by how much I have loved, and been willing to love again.

I do not define myself by how many times I have been knocked down.
I define myself by how many times I have struggled to my feet.

I am not my pain.
I am not my past.
I am that which has emerged from the fire.

~ Author Unknown

Growing Up

Change

Everything in life changes you in some way, even the smallest things. If you do not accept these changes, you do not accept yourself. For through these changes life brings new and greater things to you, making you wiser as time progresses. To avoid these changes is a loss. You only live your life once. Do not waste a minute avoiding things. Let them come to you, and learn from them. There is always tomorrow.

Everyday God gives us a “Do-Over”!!!

Quarrel

A quarrel between friends, when made up, adds a new tie to friendship.

 

Be who you are and be that well. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections. Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly. Friendships begun in this world will be taken up again, never to be broken off.

~ Saint Francis de Sales

Happy Father's Day!

A teenage boy lived alone with his father. The two of them had a very special relationship. Even though the son was always "warming the bench," his father was always in the stands cheering. He never missed a football game.

This young man was still the smallest of the class when he entered high school.

But his father continued to encourage him but also made it very clear that he did not have to play football if he didn't want to. But the young man loved football and decided to hang in there.

The son was determined to try his best at every practice, and perhaps he'd get to play when he became a senior.

All through high school he never missed a practice but still remained a bench warmer all four years. His faithful father always in the stands, always with words of encouragement for him.

When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a "walk-on." Everyone was sure he could never make the cut, but he did. The coach admitted that he kept him on the roster because he always puts his heart and soul to every practice and, at the same time, provided the other members with the spirit and hustle they badly needed.

The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father. His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the college games.

This persistent young athlete never missed practice during his four years at college, but he never got to play in the game. It was the end of his senior football season, and as he trotted onto the practice field shortly before the big play-off game, the coach met him with a telegram.

The young man read the telegram and he became deathly silent. Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, "My father died this morning. Is it all right if I miss practice today?" The coach put his arm gently around his shoulder and said, "Take the rest of the week off, son. And don't even plan to come back to the game on Saturday."

Saturday arrived, and the game was not going well. In the third quarter, when the team was ten points behind, a silent young man quietly slipped into the empty locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were astounded to see their faithful teammate back so soon.

"Coach, please let me play. I've just got to play today," said the young man. The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted his worst player in this close playoff game. But the young man persisted, and finally feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in.

"All right," he said, "you can go in." Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands could not believe their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before was doing everything right.

The opposing team could not stop him. He ran, he passed, blocked and tackled like a star. His team began to triumph. The score was soon tied.

In the closing seconds of the game, this kid intercepted a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown!

The fans broke loose. His teammates hoisted him onto their shoulders. Such cheering you've never heard!

Finally, after the stands had emptied and the team had showered and left the locker room, the coach noticed that the young man was sitting quietly in the corner all alone. The coach came to him and said, "Kid, I can't believe it. You were fantastic! Tell me what got into you? How did you do it?"

He looked at the coach, with tears in his eyes, and said, "Well, you knew my dad died, but did you know that my dad was blind?"

The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, "Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could do it!"

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time and Father's Day

Several years ago, a friend sent me a fascinating link demonstrating the scale of the universe from the smallest known measurement, 0.0000000001 yoctometers, to the farthest point in the observable universe, a picture of a “deep field” from the Hubble Telescope that is 12.7 billion light years away or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 meters from us. By the way, the largest known measurement is a yottameter. I find these measurements staggering. I cannot imagine a yoctometer, much less a yottameter! But in today’s world, scientists have discovered or at least theorized about the smallest of elements and calculated distances far beyond our own galaxy. And although I cannot comprehend this level of scientific theory, I believe the scientists. I believe that there are things the size of a yoctometer in our universe and I believe that there are galaxies that are a yottameter or more away from us.

In today’s gospel from Mark 4:26-34, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to “the smallest of all the seeds on the earth,” a mustard seed, that “springs up and becomes the largest of plants.” When Jesus walked on our earth more than 2000 years ago, he spoke from what he observed and from divine inspiration. And when he taught, he used examples that he knew his listeners would understand. We know today that the mustard seed is not the smallest seed and we know that a mustard tree isn’t all that big. But to a first century Palestinian farmer, the mustard seed probably was the smallest seed they ever saw and the mustard tree is a fairly substantial plant. So, the mustard seed and mustard tree served as good examples to explain the workings of the Kingdom of God.

In the Kingdom of God the smallest and seemingly most inconsequential things grow in magnitude - sometimes with mind boggling results. A tiny mustard seed can grow into a huge plant. A kind word or deed can transform a person’s life. A handful of very ordinary first century fishermen, farmers and a tax collector could lead a movement that changed the world. A Pharisee who assisted in killing early Christians could have a conversion experience and become the world’s greatest Christian evangelist. And, who knows, perhaps something as small as a yoctometer can impact a galaxy 1. 3 yottameters (137 million light years) away.

In the Kingdom of God the obscure become great, the weak become strong and the poor become rich in ways we may never see or understand. Whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we ask “Thy Kingdom come.” God our Father plants the seeds of the Kingdom in all of us, the seeds of faith and love and compassion and mercy. As Christians our job is to cultivate and nurture these seeds to help them grow thus assuring that the Kingdom does come today, here in Peachtree City.

Today is Father’s Day. It is a day set aside for us to honor and remember our fathers if they have died and to honor and thank our fathers if they are still with us. Fathers, like mustard trees, put out branches that shelter us and protect us. The very first place we learn about God’s love for us is in our homes. The very first people who demonstrate God’s compassionate love for us are our parents. Fathers have a special responsibility to make God’s love present to their families, their communities and to our world. 

And so on this day we say a special prayer for all fathers:

God is the giver of all life, human and divine.

May he bless all fathers.

With their wives they are the first teachers of their children in the ways of faith.

May they be also the best of teachers,

Bearing witness to the faith by what they say and do,

In Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen

Flag Day

Go look in on your children still asleep

within their bed.

Remind yourself they're safe and warm

because of some long dead.

Go for a walk through cemeteries

lined with little flags.

Take time to ponder homebound heroes

flown in body bags.

Go stand between those granite stones

engraved with names and dates.

Imagine all who died defending

our United States.

Go on and kneel beside a marker

offering a prayer

with gratitude for those who gave their lives

defeating terror.

Go home and count your blessings

from the hands of those now gone.

Then vow to the Almighty that their 

mem'ry will live on.

June 14, 1775, 

United States of America army was founded.

Magic Bank Account

Imagine that you had won the following prize in a contest: Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400.00 in your private account for your use. However, this prize has rules, just as any game has certain rules.

The first set of rules would be:

· Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away from you.

· You may not simply transfer money into some other account..

· You may only spend it.

· Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400.00 for that day.

The second set of rules:

The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say, Its over, the game is over! It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.

What would you personally do?

You would buy anything and everything you wanted right? Not only for yourself, but for all people you love, right? Even for people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself, right? You would try to spend every cent, and use it all, right?

ACTUALLY This GAME is REALITY!

Each of us is in possession of such a magical bank. We just can't seem to see it.

The MAGICAL BANK is TIME!

Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life, and when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is NOT credited to us.

What we haven't lived up that day is forever lost.

Yesterday is forever gone.

Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time.... WITHOUT WARNING.

SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds?

Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars.

Think about that, and always think of this:

Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think.

So take care of yourself, be Happy, Love Deeply and enjoy life!

Here's wishing you a wonderful and beautiful day.

Start spending!

Don’t complain about growing old; Some people don’t get the privilege!

Little Things

Solitude is Sweet

 

Wisdom

Wisdom is a state of the human mind characterized by profound understanding and deep insight. It is often, but not necessarily, accompanied by extensive formal knowledge. Unschooled people can acquire wisdom, and wise people can be found among carpenters, fishermen, or housewives, rich and poor alike. Wherever it exists, wisdom shows itself as a perception of the relativity and relationships among things. It is an awareness of wholeness that does not lose sight of particularity or concreteness, or of the intricacies of interrelationships. It is where left and right brain come together in a union of logic and poetry and sensation, and where self-awareness is no longer at odds with awareness of the otherness of the world. Wisdom cannot be confined to a specialized field, nor is it an academic discipline; it is the consciousness of wholeness and integrity that transcends both. Wisdom is complexity understood and relationships accepted.

 
… And the Wisdom to know the difference.

Joyful Living

"But to know that which lies before us in daily life, is the prime wisdom.” ~John MiltonIt isn't easy becoming an adult. We have to pay the dues as we go along the path of life. As long as we have had joy and suffering, we may as well learn to use our well-earned adult perspective. After all, look how hard we worked to get here!

Enjoyment is still there, free for the taking. All the intangibles we enjoyed before are still there -- love, honor, trust. We alone can decide, as we sift through the happenings of our days, whether to call our lives wreckage or success, whether to create delight or sorrow. A change in circumstances doesn't mean the end of joyful living. Such changes will often help us to begin living our lives more wisely, with greater appreciation and understanding.

I will find and accept the gift of joyful living today​.

A Simple Prayer

 

10th Sunday in Ordinary Time

So often when I am reflecting on the readings in the Lectionary, I find a phrase I never focused on before or that jumps out at me.  It happened to me today as I considered the readings for this Sunday, the 10^th Sunday year B in Ordinary time.  The phrase was in the second reading from St Paul’s 2^nd Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 4 verse 13.  St Paul says, “we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we too believe and therefore speak…”. 

There are a myriad of ways to consider this phrase.  If we believe, are we compelled to speak?   What if we believe and don’t speak?  Or, what if we speak without believing?   There seems to be an assumption in here that whatever we speak will be the truth.  What if we don’t speak the truth?  And, finally, what if we don’t share that same spirit of faith? 

Some of these questions are answered in today’s first and second readings with very graphic examples.  In the first reading from Genesis 3: 9 – 15, the serpent tricked Eve with a lie.  God’s punishment was to ban the serpent “from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; on your belly shall you crawl,

and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life.”  In today’s gospel, Mark 3:20-35, the scribes spoke without believing.  They accused Jesus of being “possessed by Beelzebul." Jesus quickly refuted their claim.  Jesus’ own family spoke without believing accusing him of “being out of his mind.”  In these readings, only Jesus spoke because he believed. 

There are many risks for people who actually speak what they believe.  For the prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, the Apostles and many faithful Christians, speaking up for what they believed lead to their martyrdom.  Most of us fall into the category of believing and not speaking. Given what usually happens to people who believe and speak, this stance is understandable. 

While this sounds very bleak, there is an element of good news.   Jesus told his followers, the scribes, his family and he tells us that “all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.”  There is, however, one unforgivable sin and that is blaspheme against the Holy Spirit: “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1864, defines blaspheme against the Holy Spirit as the deliberate refusal “to accept [God’s] mercy by repenting,” rejecting “forgiveness of sins” and rejecting “the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.”

God our Father,

we experience within us and around us

the ongoing struggle between good and evil.

Make us recognize the evil we have done,

give us faith in your immeasurable mercy

and bring us the joy of your pardon,

for which your Son Jesus paid with his life.

Make us rise again in him,

become free again through him,

and overcome with him all evil

in ourselves and in our world.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Late Have I Loved You

Absent from our Lives. St. Augustine, in a famous prayer after his conversion, expresses this well: "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved! You were within me, but I was outside and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you." (Confessions, Book 7).

''You were within me, but I was outside." Few phrases more accurately describe how we relate to God, life, love, and community than does that line from Augustine. We can have so rich a life and yet be so deeply restless; it's why we all generally look everywhere else rather than to our own actual lives for love and delight; and it's why we are perennially so deeply restless.

This restlessness cannot be stilled by a journey outward. It's inward that we need to go. Inside of our own actual lives, beyond our restless yearnings and fantasies, God, love, community, meaning, timeless significance and everything else that we search for, are already there.

Hope

Staying in the Present

"Having spent the better part of my life trying either to relive the past or experience the future before it arrives, I have come to believe that in between these two extremes is peace." ~ Anonymous

How hard it, often seems, to quiet our minds so we can experience the present. We know that we're missing God's message now when we're obsessively caught in thoughts of another time. But too often we allow them to plague us anyway.

We're not failures if we need to repeatedly remind ourselves to be quiet, but we may think we are. It might be well for each of us to observe a small child who is learning to walk. She stumbles and falls and tries again and again, often with peals of laughter.

We, too, are children trying to master a new skill. That we didn't learn how to quiet our mind in earlier years is unimportant. We are here, now, and the opportunity to practice this skill, will present itself many times today. And we will become proficient at knowing peace with practice.

Today I'll willingly quiet my mind rather than let my thoughts carry me astray.

~ In God’s Care by Karen Casey

God Won't Ask

God won't ask the square footage of your house,

but He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet,
but He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

God won't ask about your social status;
He will ask what kind of class you displayed.

God won't ask how many material possession you had,
but He'll ask if they dictated your life.

God won't ask what your highest salary was,
but He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.

God won't ask how much overtime you worked,
but He'll ask if your overtime work was for yourself or for your family.

God won't ask how many promotions you received,
but He'll ask how you promoted others.

God won't ask what your job title was,
but He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of your ability.

God won't ask what you did to help yourself,
but He'll ask what you did to help others.

God won't ask how many friends you had,
but He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

God won't ask what you did to protect your rights,
but He'll ask what you did to protect the rights of others.

God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived,
but He'll ask how you treated your neighbor​.

Does God Show Through You?

A little girl, on the way home from church, turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, the Preacher's sermon this morning confused me."

The mother said, "Oh! Why is that?"

The girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?"

"Yes, that's true," the mother replied.

"He also said that God lives within us. Is that true, too?"

Again the mother replied, "Yes."

"Well," said the girl. "If God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn't He show through?

Dandelions

A man who took great pride in his lawn found himself with a large crop of dandelions. He tried every method he knew to get rid of them. Still they plagued him.

Finally, he wrote the Department of Agriculture. He enumerated all the things he had tried and closed with the question: “What shall I do now?”

In due course the reply came: “We suggest you learn to love them.”

“… accept the things we cannot change…”