This sentiment came from Grateful Living. I get a daily quote from them. This one was sent on Thanksgiving Day.
The day I acquired the habit of consciously pronouncing the words “thank you,” I felt I had gained possession of a magic wand capable of transforming everything.
OMRAAM MIKHAËL AÏVANHOV
I have no idea the nationality of Omraam, but that does not matter. If each of us would learn to consciously pronounce those words the world would be a much better place to live!
A magic wand! Oh how often we wish for one! Disney made it a stronger wish with Bibbidi, Bobbidi Boo!
In case you ever wanted a magic wand, here is a look at mine 🙂
“Habit of consciously pronouncing the words THANK YOU. “Oh Lord, so many things in Your kingdom are simple and we try to make them complicated. Thank You for revealing this truth to us.
At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
Matthew 11:25 NRSV
So here is your magic wand. Instead of lamenting this holiday season, why not make it a magical season with constant Thank Yous to our Father? What do you have to lose? Give a try! Perhaps you will lose the blues!
I was driving and listening to NPR when I heard this episode of Radio Lab. I hope you enjoy the wonders of their discoveries as a much as I did.
Really? There is dirt in the canopy? The canopy even sends out roots for more trees up in the air?
Here is a quote from the transcript:
ANNIE: Her job up there was to take samples of the moss that was growing on these branches.
NALINI NADKARNI: I had to cut off chunks of it.
ANNIE: So using some clippers, she begins to cut down into that moss on the branch she’s sitting on.
NALINI NADKARNI: And as I peeled back those mats of mosses …
ANNIE: Beneath, instead of just bare branch …
NALINI NADKARNI: I saw that there was all this soil up there.
ANNIE: This branch has a foot of soil piled up on it.
ROBERT: Oh wow!
ANNIE: Soil that had built up over many, many years of mosses and leaves dying and decomposing right there on the branch.
What? I was intrigued. Temperate forest in Olympic rainforest in western Washington state. 100 feet up – a 10 story building! Copepods in the top of Redwoods. Amazing discoveries. And we, the little humans, think we know it all! NOT!!
The wonders our God of Creation made for us to discover. New things after new things we never even imagined.
Cloudy day in Corrales, New Mexico
I am seated in New Mexico looking at the peaks of Sandia Mountain. Visible valleys where water has run down the mountains side. A few places where snow has began to accumulate. Trees that look like dark green fuzz from here, trees that likely are much taller than I am. What wonders reside there? Discoveries the scientists and explorers have not yet made. How many eons have people gazed upon this mountain? Yet, the God of Wonders is NEVER surprised by what we find!!
Same mountain, different day!
Go outside. Take a walk around. Dig into the moss, or rocks, or dirt. See what wonders God has created for you to discover. Treasures in plain sight or on a treetop.
“The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“God of hope, I look to you with an open heart and yearning spirit. During this Advent season, I will keep alert and awake, listening for your word and keeping to your precepts. My hope is in you.” ~ Matthew Kelly
If you go to the website mentioned above you will read that this church season is a time to prepare our hearts for Christ but also a time to prepare our hearts for the RETURN of Christ. The author speaks of both looking back and looking forward, “balancing the two elements of remembrance and anticipation.”
Here am I, stuff of earth
But by the Spirit's power rebirth
has brought me receptivity.
Fill me with Yourself.
Molded by Your Holy Hand
I wait before You
Cupped and ready,
cleansed, atoned
eager for Your radiant touch
Virtue compelled to enfold Your own
the vessel of Your making.
Here am I, stuff of earth
yielded for Messiah's birth
be it unto me, O Lord,
as in Your word and will.
The Great I AM
dwells in my heart
there to impart the power
courage and propulsion for
His dream to be fulfilled.
My prayer for you is that this season you will wait for the Lord to fill you with His power, courage and propulsion that His dream will be fulfilled in your heart. We can gift ourselves to Jesus this year. Have at it!
May the words of Matthew Kelly keep your heart on track: “I will keep alert and awake, listening for Your word and keeping to Your precepts.” Amen!
Each year we set a budget for Christmas gift spending. This year we have spent most of that as we try to get Christmas things done well in advance of our travel to New Mexico and then Bob’s second eye surgery. What about you? Is there a plan to your spending?
With the economic woes from this rampant inflation the news was reporting on something I too have noticed with on-line shopping …. this offer of ‘buy now, pay later’ on line. They keep offering to let me pay in three or four installments. There IS nothing new under the sun!
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9
When will we reign in this desire for new things, better things, larger things and learn to live within our means? At first I am saddened in the grocery store when I hear a mother tell her child “No, we cannot afford that.” That is usually in regards to cookies or a new cereal. I want to buy the thing for the child, but my next thought is respect for the mother. She is willing to tell the child the truth! That is not often done in this day and age.
I think we are selling our souls in this quest to fulfill our untamed wants and making ourselves think those are needs. What happened to contentment? Can we separate ourselves from the ways of the world?
I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.18 ‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.
John 15:17-19 NRSV
We can make our own ornaments out of pressed paper egg cartons. We can string popcorn and cranberries. We can limit our gifts to one another both in quantity and by cost. We could choose to stay within budget. Setting limits on how we celebrate might tell the world more than our words about how much we value Christ and His teachings. What if this holiday you actually told the people you love how you love them and why? Wouldn’t heartfelt truth over a cup of coffee be more memorable than some bauble they likely do not need or want?
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence.
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 NRSV
Consider the facts below. yikes.
Key 2022 American Christmas Spending Stats
Americans spend approximately $1,000 on Christmas each year.
65% of US holiday budgets are assigned to gift purchases.
US holiday sales have grown year-over-year for over a decade.
96% of Americans buy gifts for their families.
Americans spend well over $200 a year on non-gift items.
Canadians spend roughly twice as much as Americans during the holidays.
On average, men spend 10% more than women on holiday purchases.
The highest-spending Americans over the winter holidays are aged 45-54.
The Northeast outspends the South by around $100 per person each year.
Gift cards are the most popular present to receive.
43% of Americans begin Christmas shopping before the end of October.
More than half (57%) of Americans shop online for holiday purchases.
Average Christmas Spending 2022
Christmas is a major expenditure for many Americans. According to the latest data from the National Retail Federation (NRF), American consumers spend an average of $997.73 on gifts and holiday items each Christmas.
I pray you will mindfully choose how you celebrate this year. May the fragrance of Christ be your best gift to give. Remembering Whose birthday we are celebrating may be the most powerful monitor of our intentions and purchasing.
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.
Psalm 68:19-20 NIV
Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the heavens. You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!
Psalm 68:34-35 NIV
All of that in four verses of one Psalm. Have you thanked Him for pouring out this power on your behalf? In your darkest hour do you know His light? He bears our burdens. He keeps us from dying in our heart, our innermost being. He gives power and strength to His people. When we feel most vulnerable and acutely know the very weakness of ourselves, He gives us power and strength. Who couldn’t use more strength?
Repeatedly I come back to
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Romans 8:11 NRSV
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. I have found that the power that raised Jesus goes dormant when I choose to live by my flesh, pushing the Spirit of Christ aside in preference to my will and my ways. My thinking becomes corrupted with thoughts such as, “Why shouldn’t I be thanked?” or “What am I, chopped okra?”
The only way I know to begin again starts with seeing my sin and confessing it to my Lord.
If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 RSV
I cannot cleanse myself. I can recognize and confess though. Just as an addict cannot stop using until they want to, until they are ready, I cannot even see my sin until I am miserable and recognize how far removed I am from walking in righteousness with my Lord.
He daily bears our burdens and provides us an escape from death. He gives us life and strength and power. He indwells us with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. He knows we have the ability to shut off that power source by stubbornly returning to our ways of flesh. When the ‘Hound of Heaven’ shows us we are way off, He can also disarm us with His love and lead us to repentance.
I fled Him down the nights and down the days I fled Him down the arches of the years I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind, and in the midst of tears I hid from him . . .
The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson
We serve an amazing God who never leaves us or forsakes us. Even when we are stinky brats, He stays close by. Come to Him, all who are weary and heavy laden. He will give you rest and life and love unmerited.
The Father will not make us obey. He waits for us to turn to Him and ask forgiveness. We give access to Him by confessing our shortcomings. We then turn towards Him and walk away from the sin habits. I would love to say we never return there. Sadly we are like dogs in Proverbs 26:11:
As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.
Lord, help us to follow You with joyful, peaceful, constant, yielded obedience. Thank you for pardoning us when we step off Your path and choose our own way. Please continue to lead us always in Your paths of righteousness. We will be ever so careful to give You the glory. Amen.
This is copied from The Cincinnati Enquirer regarding a recent Northern Kentucky election. Trying to bring you this humorous news there were many typos created from copy and pasting. I hope I caught all of them!
Mon 11/21/2022 Jolene Almendarez, Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
How this NKY city forgot all about an election MENTOR, Ky. – The election in this city earlier this month featured no negative ads, no spam texts – not even any candidates on the ballot. In this city of fewer than 200 residents, every elected official forgot to submit their names in time to run for office again. So, on Election Day, voters had to write in candidates. Mentor City Commissioner Maggie Gosney didn’t even know she won the election until three days after the polls closed. When an Enquirer reporter told her she likely did win based on unofficial election results, she shrugged. “We just got wrapped up in our lives and it slipped past us,” she said about missing the deadline to run for office. “And we knew about it, because the city clerk kept saying we have to get our names in by a certain date. … We just forgot and we were like, ‘Oh, yeah, we were supposed to do that, weren’t we?’ ” Run by a mayor and four-person city commission, this Campbell County enclave is roughly a mile-long strip on state Route 8 along the Ohio River, about 30 minutes southeast of Cincinnati.
Red Pin is Mentor, KY
The political scene in Mentor seems even further away from the name-calling and election complaints of Northern Kentucky politics this year. Gosney, 55, a lifelong resident of the city, said residents basically take turns holding office. She also clarified that write-in candidates still have to pay a fee to run for office and submit their intent to run as a write-in candidate. City Clerk Carol Dunn asked Gosney to run for office a little over four years ago when another resident gave up the spot. She took up the offer and it didn’t take much campaigning to win back then or for her to win this year’s election, which she did with 30 of the 113 votes cast, according to unofficial election results from the Campbell County Clerk. She says she posted about her candidacy on Facebook the day before the election. Write-in candidates were also mentioned in the city’s one-page newsletter this month, where the election and candidates were given a two sentence mention. More information was given about this year’s Christmas parade where the person with the best float (usually a tractor or a truck) wins a gold painted ceramic turkey and about $15. The parade is the biggest event of the year in Mentor. Last year, float winners won one of three city signs that were being replaced. The city signs say, “Last one out of town, please turn off the light.” Gosney and her family won one of the signs with a “Very Covid Christmas” theme: A tree decorated with toilet paper, masks, and bandages. There are only a handful of businesses, including a dog training facility and a hair salon. And Gosney said that as a city commissioner, there is never any drama or people lined up to speak about issues. City council meets once a month at a nearby house. Meetings used to be held on some church steps, but they changed the location after the church became a residence. At most meetings, she says they take on issues like potholes or snow removal. The city doesn’t have any zoning laws or other restrictions that require permits. Mayor Peggy Fury declined to be interviewed. But she said in a phone call that she’d likely end up being mayor again, though unofficial election results show nobody was written in as mayor of the city. Campbell County Clerk Jim Luersen said a small town with only write-in candidates isn’t unusual. “We have 15 different cities in Campbell County and a couple of them are very, very small. So, sometimes it’s hard to find anyone to pay the $50 filing fee to run,” he said. “It’s not like you get paid for the job or anything.” In fact, when nobody wants to run the local government in a small town, it could lead to dis-incorporation. The Ohio Valley Resource, an online news outlet, reported the eastern Kentucky town of Blackey has been dis-incorporated twice, most recently this summer. It has been years since the city had a government and its infrastructure began crumbling. The Letcher County government absorbed it in June, the news organization reported. But Gosney says she isn’t worried about that happening in Mentor any time soon. “I think we’ll always be a little town. I hope so anyway.”
Mentor is a city in Campbell County, Ky. with a population of about 200 people and a total area of 0..81 square miles..
I recently realized that the photo files on my computer contain many photos of folks who are no longer living on this earth. Guess that means I am getting old. In case you have an empty chair at your table this year I want to remind you that others are missing loved ones, too. None of us are getting out of here without experiencing death of ones we love or our own. If you are following Christ there are promises for a better life with Him after we shed this ‘meat bag’ body and live on in the spirit. You are a spirit, inhabiting a body. Either Dallas Willard or C. S. Lewis made that point. Regardless, it is so true.
Aunt Patty MilesSister Mary ElizabethBetty MilesGrandma SallyJoy CavalierMy ParentsSister StephanieMy In-laws, Betty and DragIn all white, my crochet buddy, Karen.Grandma PatMy mother, day of my wedding
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
1 Peter 1:3-5
If you are missing loved ones, I pray that you are able to celebrate their life by adopting their best attributes and making those your own. Try to list wonderful things you remember about each person. Prayerfully thank God the Father for their positive influence upon your life. Ask for guidance from the Lord as to how you can best honor each one with the days you have remaining. May God bless and keep you this holiday season and always.
You know something is up when all the messages around you harmonize!
And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.
Meister Eckhart
How about you? Is there anything new popping up in your life?
Conner Bowie on Unspalsh
Wouldn’t it be great to have some place like this to go for a retreat! Away from ‘the maddening crowds.” Asking for guidance and wisdom and able to hear His will.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Those who instruct writers tell that the best readership is when the writer connects from a personal place. So here is a recent telling of a personal relationship gone bad and how I am coping with that. My time is divided between writing two mornings a week, attending a crochet group one morning per week and participating in a church small group every other week. I have not joined any of church women’s Bible studies as my time is stretched as is.
I have been part of this crochet and knit group for many years. We meet weekly to construct our own projects. Sometimes a bunch of us decide to try the same pattern. Recently our leader was absent and no one knew where she was. Many reiterated, “She always tells one of us if she is not going to attend.” She had not told anyone. I called and there was no answer. Left her a message. Stopped at her house on the way home to drop a donation of hats and mittens someone had made. Lights were out but both cars were there. I assumed she was resting. I did not ring the bell. Placed the donation on top of her car in the open garage. Left a message that we were concerned by her absence. Later in the week I tried to get hold of her. Her phone mailbox was full.
When I attended group the next week she lit into me with fury. “I and my family are really pissed at you!” I was curious and it was humorous to me at first, “Why?!?” In anger she replied, “You called me three times! Even my cousin did not call that many times.” She accused me of butting my nose into other people’s business. I was told to just butt out. Wow. I thought I was showing concern for her well being. She had recently been hospitalized with lung issues. With the children’s virus going around that can affect seniors I was truly concerned. I still had no idea where she had been the previous meeting. I was wounded by her words. There had to be at least 15 other ways she could have handled that besides yelling at me in front of the group that was assembling.
I went out of the room to sign in at the Senior Center desk and realized I could not stay for that meeting. I was angry and distressed. I had brought a cake to share with the group for my birthday, and could not in good conscious act as if all was well. I got my cake, crochet supplies and purse out of the meeting room as she was explaining to the group what happened to her and where she had been the previous week. I did not wait to listen.
I admit, I have had a hard time shaking this one off. I have prayed. I have asked trusted friends to listen to my heart. Tried not to ruminate, just find out what the Lord requires of me in this.
This week the same Scripture came to me through more than one source.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
Psalm 40:2 NIV
Photo by Molly Dutina
Our church has repeatedly been teaching about the fact that we cannot, should not, try to walk alone in our Christian journey. The preacher asks us almost weekly to examine our circle of friends and influence. I have been doing just that and find my circle too limited and me often suffering from loneliness.
So having just passed my 72nd birthday I wondered what I am going to do about this? My Dad died when I was 11 years old. I was left with my mom and sister who were like two peas in a pod. I was the odd girl out. After that I grew up with a steady diet of criticism of them. It all left me with a tendency to not trust women in relationships. Mind you, I have some close female friends, but I also have a long line of women who shamed, falsely accused or betrayed me. Last Sunday a guest speaker came and challenged us to tell our story to a small group of fellow Christians. I am reading his book and asking my church if we are holding groups like he suggests.
Okay, there is no Christian focus at crochet group. There are Christians who attend, many go to the same church I do! I do not want to discuss this with them as I fear getting into gossip about her. That is not my goal. How do I get in relationship with other women who want to share life in a trusting, safe environment? Our speaker, Dr. Alan Ahlgrim, pointed out repeatedly that we cannot be heart healthy alone. (He was not speaking of diet.) He means a place where we do not only share from our heads, but our hearts, too.
I have come to believe that perhaps the Lord released me from the crochet group with this woman’s foot upon my bottom pushing me out the door. He knew I would not leave of my own accord. Her rude manner and unkind ways just put me over the top to see the opportunities to participate in my church’s activities with newly freed up time.
From Joshua Hoehne at Unsplash Images
Please pray that I can find a way to share my heart as well as my mind with others. Pray I will find or help create a group where we can each be genuine without shame or contempt.
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: 10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. 11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Are you on the Isaiah highway? I do not think this refers to a religious denomination, but more a way of life.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. 9 No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, 10 and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isaiah 35:8-11 NIV
My ways are not God’s ways. There are ways that seem right to me, but they can end in destruction. I need to ask God if I am being obedient to His will. I need to constantly check my ways, my motives, my decisions. When was the last time you did a self examen? A spiritual check of yourself, and then quiet confession and listening for His still, small voice to guide and direct you, An inner KNOWING.
I would love a print of this photo from the internet!
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 14:12 NIV
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 16:25 NIV
It has been said when something is repeated in Scripture we are meant to pay attention. Two different Proverbs. Hmm. I will doing self examen this week and asking the Lord for specific guidance in my choices.
A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart.
Proverbs 21:2 NIV
Never too old or too young to examen you heart, soul and mind!
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 