My Blog, my journey… or something like that :o)

"If you love me keep my commandments."

"A ruthless businessman once said to author Mark Twain, "Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud from the top."

"I have a better idea," Twain remarked, "You could stay home here and keep them."

Talk is cheap. It’s what we do that counts—not what we say—and when our words don’t match our actions, we are, as the Apostle Paul put it, as empty vessels and clanging symbols.

One of the best lessons I learned from one of my many teachers was the written comment he seemed to relish writing in bold red letters in the column of several of my written assignments. It simply read, "Show me. Don’t tell me!"

I’ve never forgotten that lesson. It really applies to all of life’s lessons we want to impart to others—especially to our children! Whatever we want to teach others we need to model ourselves before we can make any lasting impact on anybody else, otherwise what we say is unbelievable and the only person we deceive in the long run will be ourselves.

As a general rule, we teach best that which we ourselves most need to learn. And the place to begin modeling what we want to teach? At home!

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, help me to model the kind of person you want me to be … a better father/mother/child … friend … partner … business person … and Christian so people seeing what you have done in my life will want the same for themselves. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen."

*this is from the Daily Encounter….. Ouch! I must say I’m 100% guilty of what the reflection is saying. It’s really difficult to wlak the talk but the best about it is you can feel a certain level happiness within you becuase you stood by your words. This also reminds me of a text message I received re: living the righteous life in order to disprove people who wants to destroy you….

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

Vern Treat tells about a scuba diver who said that "when you’re in deep water, you’re encircled by light, so there’s no way you can tell which way is up because the water diffuses the light. You’re also totally weightless, so you have no sense of gravity.

"Surrounded in an aura of light and weightlessness, it’s very easy to lose all sense of direction and get disoriented. You may sense that this way is up and that your air bubbles are going sideways. You may be so convinced that your perception is true that you decide to ignore your bubbles and go the way you think is up. I wouldn’t be surprised if some divers have drowned because of this. One of the first things we were told when learning to scuba-dive was to always trust your bubbles—to always follow your bubbles. No matter how you feel, no matter what you think, your bubbles are always right."

Life can be like that at times too. If we base the rules of life on our feelings and/or perception, we can be very easily led astray. The philosophy, "If it feels good it must be right," is a dangerous guide to follow because our feelings can play all sorts of tricks on us. If something is wrong, it is wrong regardless of how we feel. True, it’s important that we don’t deny or repress our feelings because we can learn to trust them—but what we can’t always trust is our interpretation of them or understand what they are telling us.

In life the only safe guide to follow when it comes to fruitful and successful living is to trust God and his Word, the Bible. Therein lie the "bubbles of life" to follow. These "bubbles" are always right. Always!

"Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for your Word, the Bible, and for giving us principles for healthy living and loving. Give me a love for your Word and the desire to hide it in my heart so I won’t sin against you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen."

*from the Daily Encounter

"Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom."

A four-hundred-year-old tree crashed to the forest floor. Over the centuries it had been struck by lightning fourteen times, braved great windstorms, and even defied an earthquake. In the end, however, it was killed by little beetles. Boring under the bark, they chewed away its mighty fibers until the giant of the forest lay broken on the ground.

Little things can either make us or break us. A little lie, a little theft, a little laziness, a little neglect, a little drink a little too often, a little sarcasm, a little denial here and a little there … bit by bit we can add them all together and eventually hurt or destroy our relationships, our physical and/or mental health, and our walk with God.

On the other hand, a little smile, a little deed of kindness, a little encouraging word, a little thoughtful gift, a little phone call, a little bit of love given a lot of times every day can add up to a whole lot of sunshine that we can spread wherever we are and go—and in so doing encourage others, enhance our relationships, improve our physical and mental health, and please the heart of God.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to watch the many little things in my life. Help me to clean out all the ‘little’ sins and self-destructive habits that hurt myself and others, and help me to keep on practicing little acts of love and kindness until they become an everyday habit that will show your love to others and gladden your heart. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen."