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Friday, August 27, 2010
counting blessings
this morning i tried to count my blessings, but only made it up to number five.
i woke up in weakness, and asked God for strength. i have a Name to call on. that's a definite number one.
i went out to the nearby store and looked down beyond my skirt's hemline. i have legs to walk me there. that was number two.
on my way back, i remembered a six-petaled santan blossom i had spotted yesterday in a neighbor's patch. number three was that it was still there. (it's not now, because i picked it and covered it with silica gels in a glass jar.)
i looked across the street, saw a running toddler, and several feet behind him, a smile creeping on his uncle's usually stern face. that's blessing number four.
i turn my face back onto the street and saw that it led straight to a sun still rising, coloring up the clouds, and gently warming the earth with soft yellow light. number five.
this morning i tried to count my blessings, but only made it up to number five... because number five was the sun rising, pushing away the darkness, and showing me that i had more blessings than i can count.
i woke up in weakness, and asked God for strength. i have a Name to call on. that's a definite number one.
i went out to the nearby store and looked down beyond my skirt's hemline. i have legs to walk me there. that was number two.
on my way back, i remembered a six-petaled santan blossom i had spotted yesterday in a neighbor's patch. number three was that it was still there. (it's not now, because i picked it and covered it with silica gels in a glass jar.)
i looked across the street, saw a running toddler, and several feet behind him, a smile creeping on his uncle's usually stern face. that's blessing number four.
i turn my face back onto the street and saw that it led straight to a sun still rising, coloring up the clouds, and gently warming the earth with soft yellow light. number five.
this morning i tried to count my blessings, but only made it up to number five... because number five was the sun rising, pushing away the darkness, and showing me that i had more blessings than i can count.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Run Through the Rain
i'm sharing this here because this is one story that never fails to make tears well in my eyes each time i read it. seriously, i've read this several times and i cry each time. and it doesn't matter if this really happened or not, it's just a wonderful story we all should learn something from.
____________________________
She had been shopping with her Mom in Wal*Mart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful brown haired, freckle-faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the tops of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the Earth it has no time to flow out the spout.
We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Wal*Mart. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I get lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child come pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day. Her voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in.
"Mom, let's run through the rain," she said.
"What?" Mom asked.
"Let's run through the rain!" She repeated.
"No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.
This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain."
"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.
"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.
"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"
"Don't you remember? When you were talking to daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything!'"
The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.
"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said. Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes through the puddles.
They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And Yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.
---as posted by Ed on a forum at www.adventisthall.ning.com----
________________
i pray that one day i can be like this mother, able to recognize a significant moment in another person's life and cherish that moment and that person with all her heart. that i can exercise myself in wisdom when it comes to what matters to some other soul. even if it does or doesn't matter to me, so long as it matters to one soul, it matters.
but more than that, i pray that i can be like this little girl who's able to see God in any and every circumstance and able to take sunshine and rain with equal gladness of heart.
let's all, in faith, run through the rain. :D
____________________________
She had been shopping with her Mom in Wal*Mart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful brown haired, freckle-faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the tops of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the Earth it has no time to flow out the spout.
We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Wal*Mart. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I get lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child come pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day. Her voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in.
"Mom, let's run through the rain," she said.
"What?" Mom asked.
"Let's run through the rain!" She repeated.
"No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.
This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain."
"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.
"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.
"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"
"Don't you remember? When you were talking to daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything!'"
The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.
"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said. Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes through the puddles.
They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And Yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.
---as posted by Ed on a forum at www.adventisthall.ning.com----
________________
i pray that one day i can be like this mother, able to recognize a significant moment in another person's life and cherish that moment and that person with all her heart. that i can exercise myself in wisdom when it comes to what matters to some other soul. even if it does or doesn't matter to me, so long as it matters to one soul, it matters.
but more than that, i pray that i can be like this little girl who's able to see God in any and every circumstance and able to take sunshine and rain with equal gladness of heart.
let's all, in faith, run through the rain. :D
Monday, August 23, 2010
like Ruth in her devotion
And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.
The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each [of you] in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? [are] there yet [any more] sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go [your way]; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, [if] I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;
Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.
And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.
And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, [or] to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people [shall be] my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, [if ought] but death part thee and me.
When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. So they two went until they came to Bethlehem.
----Ruth 1:8-19---
The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each [of you] in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.
And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? [are] there yet [any more] sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go [your way]; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, [if] I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;
Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.
And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.
And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, [or] to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people [shall be] my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, [if ought] but death part thee and me.
When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. So they two went until they came to Bethlehem.
----Ruth 1:8-19---