thehereandafter

Our priest this Sunday gave us a sermon on humility. Here are his thoughts combined with my thoughts. In today’s world when we are complimented we are taught the humble response is to make light of the compliment. When someone tells you your singing voice is beautiful, you respond by saying everybody can sing. No big deal. When you are told you pitched a fabulous game….you have quite the arm, you respond with saying you could do it with your arms tied behind your back. It is nothing. Someone compliments you on your artistic ability…you really paint or draw well, you respond by saying you enjoy doodling. The fact of the matter is that God gives each and every one of us talents or a gifts. He gives some of us the extraordinary singing voices. He gives some of us athlete abilities, others artistic abilities that have lived on for centuries. God has given men and women the talents, gifts and ability to become famous writers, mathematicians, scholars, doctors, and inventors. He bestows o

When I was in Wal-Mart yesterday, the cashier was talkative and seemed quite happy. "Did you hear it's going to be COLD this weekend?" she asked me.  I told her I had heard the weather was going to change and that it was suppose to be a very pleasant weekend.  I couldn't help but smile to myself that I didn't consider a high of 89 degrees and a low of 64 degrees exactly COLD but her joy was certainly sincere. It got me thinking about all the changes that are ahead that come when the cooler weather rolls in. The switching of summer to fall clothes, bringing out scarfs and coats, cutting wood for the fireplace, cleaning the house before it gets shut up for the cold weather, getting the supplies together to dip candles....the list goes on. The thought came to me that this is the perfect time to add God to the list. Work something new with my relationship with the Lord into the cooler weather. Maybe 30 minutes with the Lord, the birds, a throw blanket, and my mornin

It’s true that someone else’s trash could be someone else’s treasure. I have had a business now for several months where I take other people’s old, unwanted stuff… home furnishings, fix it up and resell it. In my little town, two of these new shops have opened in the last six months and business is doing very well. It is a “shabby-chic” take-off of the Goodwill or Salvation Army. Last night, as I lay in bed praying for someone who has a lot of “junk” in their life, the Lord and I had a talk. I was asking the Lord why this person would want to carry around all this old, unwanted, dirty stuff in their life. The Lord revealed to me that to some people, Christians and non-Christians, what I and you might consider “trash” in their lives they have made into “treasures”. Treasures are anything that a person considers valuable, something that a person values. That is different depending on the person. One of my treasures is the pictures of my children when they were babies, but I have a fri

I looked up the definition of blessing and this is what I found: BLESSING- help believed to have come from God; something to be glad or relieved about; a religious act in which a person invokes or claims to bestow divine help. My life, my little world has been covered up in blessings and as those of another generation says,"it is time to count my blessings." I know that help has come my way that can only be from God; huge portions of help, special things to be glad or relieved about, and divine help because someone invoked God's help upon me and my family.  Of course, the most recent is the truck wreck my daughter was in that nearly ended her life. She was not suppose to survive... blessing , she was not suppose to walk... blessing, and the doctors didn't know how they would fix her injuries but somehow they ended up fixed... blessing! The blessings started a long time ago, though, when I was just a baby. I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and was not suppose to

Someone whom I know that was estranged from her father recently was reunited with him. The parents got divorced when this person was young and like most children, she was caught in the middle. This child just remembers one fall her father coming home and then leaving and that was the last time they were a real family. Her father was at her graduation and a few things but they were few and far between. This person grew up with the impression that her father didn't love her. But then, about six months ago, she reached out and her father responded. They have had some serious talks and she has discovered how much her father has and does love her. One thing that made a lasting impression on her was that he brought her two large tubs of memorabilia that he kept of her. He kept baby clothes, coloring books, crayons, Barbie dolls, mementos of birthdays, tickets from Funsville...ect. He had been keeping this stuff...HER stuff with him all these years. This was validation of his love for h