What Treasures I Hold!

What Treasures I Hold!

In the course of our lives we have acquired experiences through relationships, old and new, that have nurtured, cultivated and developed us.

We’ve learned technical, motor, and social skills and hold on to a sea of information that is
valuable and, at times, seem to be of no use.

The most intricate insignificant snippets of our past have taken a part in shaping our present being. Nothing is ever wasted.

In our lives we face situations that call for us to reach into our past and pull out something meaningful and insightful. Uncertain or troubling times lead us to test the depth of our faith in God. Our religious beliefs and our own personal history brings a certain calm and comfort allowing us to move forward assured, confident, carefree, and poised to help ourselves and others.

We have built layers of love, feelings, opinions, emotions, ideas, inspirations, faithfulness, hope, trust, conviction, devotion, loyalty, beliefs, confidence and fears.

Through this sea of sensations and passions we are pulled in and out of the high and low tides of our lives. We may face turbulent times, tumble or get caught in a rip tide, but with faith in the plans that God rests on our hearts and in the gifts and skills we possess, we are led to a more fulfilling depth of our spirit. Together with the lessons learned and the practice of the new ideas and goals we set our sights on, we are able to swim or float to a safe haven.

The current may take you, but be at peace and feel secure in your own vessel. Continue to reinforce and build on the foundation of its original design. Inventive ways should never stop for the world keeps changing and your heart must rise above and continue to grow in love.

Everyday will not be over-the-top thrilling, moving and electrifying. Some days will be uneventful, calm and tranquil. Enjoy the most menial of events, experiences, conversations, and observations for they all play a part in the treasures you embrace today or for those yet to come.

What treasures you hold in your heart may encompass an array of beautiful sparkling deep rich colored jewels that are titanic in size or they may be a pool of the tiniest smoothest perfect pure white pearls in the chest.

Whatever word, phrase, scripture, memory, picture, or feeling you find worthwhile, meaningful, and valuable, hold on to it, and keep it safe in the protective cove of your heart.

Recall often the wondrous works of God and His miraculous creation of you. Include simple things and pure thoughts; make them readily accessible and sweetly on the tip of your tongue, so that you will be prepared for that one surprising unassuming day where your recollection and reminiscence of joyful, certain and uncomplicated times will keep you afloat and buoyant in the midst of your storms.

One’s treasure is only valuable to the one who looks after the gems in their heart. Cultivate it so it will stay and hover like an aura of an angel’s crown, ready to share its lovely light and unveil itself at any vulnerable moment or obscure place to offer holy and sound direction as you travel through your uncertain channel, path or route.

Allow your inner faith, hope, and love to work in sync with your past, good and bad, significant or not, to be your guardian angel and perceptive guide that will lead your ship out of harm’s way back into the harbor, and through the inlet, where you will return safely and dock from the voyages of your life.

Through your faith and trust in God and with the strength of your own persuasion you’ll humbly proclaim, “Oh dear Lord, what treasures I hold!



Inspired by Matthew 13:52

Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

So strengthen your drooping hands
and your weak knees. Make straight
paths for your feet, that what is lame
may not be dislocated but healed.
-Hebrews 13:12


If we live good lives, the times are also good.
As we are, such are the times.
-Saint Augustine


Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find; knock
and the door will be opened to you.
-Matthew 7:7


Hope is like a road in the country;
there was never a road, but when
many people walk on it, the road
comes into existence.
-Lin Yutang


Do not worry about tomorrow;
tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
-Matthew 6:34


Opportunities multiply as they are
seized; they die when neglected.
Life is a long line of opportunities.
-John Wicker



Your father knows what you need
before you ask him.
-Matthew 6:8


The principle of life is that life
responds by corresponding;
your life becomes the thing
that you have decided it shall be.
-Raymond Charles Barker

POSITIVE QUOTES

POSITIVE QUOTES

Positive Quotes

One of the secrets of a long and
fruitful life is to forgive everybody
everything every night before
you go to bed.
-Anon



We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired?
-Marcus Annaeus Seneca

I think, what has this day brought me, and what have I given it?
-Henry Moore


Every night before I turnout the lights to sleep, I ask myself this question: Have I done everything that I can . . . Have I done enough?
-Lyndon B. Johnson

The camel, at the close of day,
kneels down upon the sandy plain
to have his burden lifted off
and rest again.

When daylight draweth to a close,
And let thy Master lift the load
And grant repose.
-Anon

Shed, as you do your garments, your daily sins,
whether of omission or commission,
and you will wake a free man,
with a new life.
-Sir William Osler


It is a common experience that
a problem difficult at night is
resolved in the morning after
the commitee of sleep has
worked on it.
-John Steinbeck

Fruits Of Your Labor Never Tasted So Good!

Fruits of your labor never tasted so good!

Good successful relationships and triumphant personal aspirations require persistence, consistence, and often tough and rigid earnest work. Our finer ambitions may also take some time to come to fruition. It’s rare to say that first-class, good quality, respectable, decent and moral things happens overnight.

Our desires, hopes, and dreams take more effort than that of just one’s self. We might need a group, band, panel, squad, lineup, a bunch or a party to get the job done.

Parents work with their children throughout a child’s adolescence to provide lasting life qualities, where the positive end result would be to teach God loving attributes, self-worth, honorable and honest characteristics, trustworthiness, and distinctive traits that make one capable of love of others and self.

A growing bank account requires a combination of an investor with money, time to bear interest and a bank to hold the funds.

It is a team effort for employers and employees to work together to provide a service to a customer and together they attain targeted goals whether it be a production quota, a filing with the court, a hot meal for seniors, or an oil change.

A coach and assistants work together with team players over the course of the season and/or year to strategize for winning games.

In a competition of tug of war each team uses their strength and endurance that has been acquired over time to work toward a victory.

A gardener consistently cares for a garden with water and food, and trims the dead branches from plants, flowers and fruit trees so that they will grow, yield more blooms and bear more fruit.

To successfully reach a goal, provide good service, or increase in faith, we must honestly look to ourselves and see where we have become dead. None are blind, for all have a holy heart that feels and sees.

The combination of minds in sync, strengths of many individuals, faith and talent on various levels, and love of scores of hearts ensure that a harmonious collaboration will carry them not only to their ultimate goal, but to a level beyond hope, probability, anticipation and sometimes even belief.

Jesus reminds us that apart from him we can do nothing. He came to remove our dead branches. We have already been cleansed by the words he has spoken. If you have suffered through a drought, or perhaps your shears have become dull, fill your bucket with water and sharpen your tools so that your garden may flourish once again.

In prayer everyday, as one, unite and elevate your heart and mind to the heights of God, so that your basket may always be overflowing with sweet abundant fruit and your delicate glass vase will be impeccably arranged with an array of beautiful flowers for eternity.

Fruits of your labor never tasted so good! Enjoy your harvest!


John 15:1-8
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Proverbs

Let another praise you – not your own mouth; someone else – not your own lips. Proverbs 27:2


The Lord loves the pure of heart; the man of winning speech has the King for his friend.
Proverbs 22:11


When the just prevail, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan. Proverbs 29:2


The fool gives vent to all his anger; but by biding his time, the wise man calms it. Proverbs 29:11


The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord is safe.
Proverbs 29:25


My son, if your heart be wise, my own heart also will rejoice; and my inmost being will exult, when your lips speak what is right. Proverbs 23:16

Go On With Your Bad Self!

Go on with your bad self!

“Smash*%#@, crack*%#@, ughhh”, she sighed, “great that’s all I need. Where are my keys,” she said between two pursed lips. She scurried to the broom closet and hastily pulled out the broom and dust pan, dashed back to where her favorite vase was now in pieces on the floor. Angered by the incident, not necessarily by her own negligence, she swept the broken fragments of sharp glass much too quickly and knew in the days to come she wouldn’t be running around barefoot.

Although she should have, she did not have enough time to run a wet mop over the area. She immediately darted to the next room and swiftly picked up her purse one last time in search of the blasted keys. From the rushed motion she dropped her sweater to the floor and there they were, the keys, sitting on the chair all along.

Livid, she tossed them into her purse, abruptly grabbed her tote, sweater, lunch, and reading material for the train and hoped that she didn’t forget anything. Her blood pressure was up, she could feel it, her heart was racing and her ears felt hot. She was up way too late last night and she could just kick herself for missing her alarm. She didn’t have time to press her blouse or drink a cup of coffee like she had intended. “Whatever”, she said to her reflection in the mirror that showed the dark circles under her eyes. Note to self, “I need a new concealer”.

Fumbling to get her keys out of her purse, she dropped a borrowed magazine and ripped the cover as she madly swept it up from the driveway. “Nothing is going right this morning, I am so not looking forward to today”, she mumbled as she pulled out of the driveway without giving her car time to warm up. The cold car hesitated as she accelerated hard trying to catch up with her hot pace.

Finally she yielded abruptly on to the freeway and was now on the butt of an annoying SUV. She had missed several opportunities to move over one more lane and each time she felt a wave of rage flare up inside her. She was irritated by its slow snail’s pace and it made her angry that this huge truck needlessly possessed power. Frantically looking for the next open break of cars to make the switch in lanes and failing at her next feeble attempt to put a little more distance between her and the SUV in front of her, she was forced to once again remain where she was, stuck. “That’s it”, she protested, “I’m going for it!”

Boom%*#@, crunch^*@#, crack^%#@, screech^%#@, bam%#@! Startled out of her own war zone, she could see ahead of her a few cars length away an out of control car sliding across the lanes of highway filled with morning commuters. This vehicle ferociously cleared all moving in its path. She hit her brakes hard and held tight on to her steering wheel and prayed to God that she’d stop without incident. Moments later she was sitting in the lane to her right with her car now facing the oncoming traffic that had miraculously stopped.

Wow, what would you do next? Imagine that it’s you, sitting in that car. You are stopped now in traffic, with your heart in your mouth, your legs shaking uncontrollably and you realize that there is no injury to you or your car. You take a deep breath and when you’ve regained your composure you:

· Want to yell at the idiot that moved about the freeway causing chaos and are ready to ream him because he was obviously the cause of this stupid mess, or

· Thank God that he spared your life and think about how misplacing your keys and the slow SUV were your blessings from above.

Bad attitudes and ghastly behavior seem to attract more of the same. It’s like the domino effect, you drop the first tile and it systematically knocks everything down in its path.

Sometimes it seems that if the day starts off bad, the whole day proceeds along the same lines. Negative comments commence and a pessimistic attitude almost always builds and follows. You come home at the end of the day and say, “I am so glad that this day is over! What else can happen to me today?”

Positive attitudes and grateful behavior seem to attract well, more of the same. It’s like a magnet, you put good feelings out there and you get good back. When positive attitudes are abundant everything around you seems to be operating on a superior level. If we have a happy disposition we will impart gladness, delight, and joy and it would reverberate more of the same.
Let’s go for broke here, what do you say! Rather, put on your face of holiness and outstanding faith. Take pride in being a cut above and you’ll attract the divine, righteous and blessed. Pure of heart will come, virtuous will stand out, the devout will be called sanctified.

Today, turn your attitude into a pious one. Since friends and family always want to imitate someone, give them something to talk about and aspire to. Its okay if others talk about you and your friends who act like you. They may toss around comments like look at those self-righteous people with that holier-than-thou attitude. Who do those goody-goody two shoe so-and-sos think they are? You’ve been called worse than “something good”, you can handle this!

With the grace of God, what may start out as an attack, envy or resentfulness, can turn into pure desire, hope and eagerness. Be patient, they’ll have to come along at some point, evil doesn’t win out when God’s in charge.

The more someone talks, the more attention the good acts of Jesus gets. Turn your slightly less than perfect attitude in a great attitude ASAP. Don’t let negativity get you down or keep you down. When faced with adversity fight for what’s right, you’ll know what to you, you’ll feel it in your heart. God is sure to be smiling down on you. He’s got your back, and he knows you’ll touch some cohorts and inspire good converters along the way.

Who knew, you’re a leader! Go on with your bad self!