Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
All three of these symbols have great and deep meaning
A clue: In a few days the movie “Good Shepherd” will be coming to your local theatre. As you probably already know it has all the lure of covert mystery. What covert communication, or code would these symbols speak and what time in history and why? Or, other thoughts you have or know about the “Praying Hand”, “Good Shepherd”, and “The “Peacock.”
This morning Pastor Sean spoke about Joseph.The sermon was so
enlightening, I wanted to share it with the daily lilies. We don’t know a
lot about Joseph, but as the Pastor spoke, I learned that we are a lot like
him. Most of us have a plan for our lives. We have it all laid out –
college, career, marriage, family, advancement, and retirement. Joseph had
it all planned out too, then, Mary informs him that she is pregnant. His
plan is shot. What is he to do next? Like us he probably raked his mind
trying to find a solution that his mind could justify, not sleeping, pacing
the floor, near throwing up thinking and thinking and thinking.
Sometimes in our thinking the options may be embarrassing, like in Joseph’s
case. Joseph continues to try to come up with an option that is suitable,
placing God in a box asking him to choose one of his options to get out of
the mess or situation. In order to get Joseph to be silent so He could
speak to him, God has to have him in an unconscious state so he could
get a word in.
Task of Advent
“Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory and hope which is so necessary to man. Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings hope. The purpose of the Church’s year is continually to rehearse her great history of memories, to awaken the heart’s memory so that it can discern the star of hope.…
It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.”
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
“It’s not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game even starts.”
Addison Walker
This morning Pastor Sean was talking about the African impala and how
they can jump high and forward as an inborn survival mechanism. The
impala is known to jump about ten feet high. This high jump propels the
impala to land about thirty feet from the spot where it starts. With
this type of jumping, the impala survives in Africa.
However, a unique limitation to the impala is that he will only jump
when it can see where it will land. In an area like the zoo the African
impala can be confined by a three-foot high fence, it won’t jump
because it cannot see where he will land.
He then took a quote from John Emmons, which says:
Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith we are
freed from flimsy enclosures of life that only fear allows to entrap
us.
Hi! I’m Baby Bear and I live on the oak shelf over a little girl’s
twin sized bed. One day she took me off the shelf and took me to a
place that I have never seen before. I saw a sign, and it said, Welcome to
Blake’s Christmas Tree Farm! I was at a Christmas tree
farm!
We got out of the car and walked towards these huge Christmas trees. I
was so happy that I was at a tree farm. The little girl found a tree
that her family liked. She placed me down on the hard, cold concrete,
and walked towards her mother and father. Her father said that they
would be on their way. They walked away without me. I’m so sad
that they left me.
A day later I decided to go walk around, because I was tired of
sitting on the cold concrete. I wondered off, and I ended up in the
middle of the tree farm. I was totally lost. I decided to ask the
Christmas trees were I was. The first tree I came to Continue reading “Baby Bear’s Adventure”
As a little bear, named Faith crossed the street on a bitterly
cold morning in Alaska, she froze in fear realizing it was Christmas
Eve, and she had not wrote her list to Santa.
What am I going to do? I have to buy Mommy and Daddy’s gift
with grandma, eat lunch, play with Sara, make Santa’s cookies, and go
to church. Faith was never happy going to church. She would sleep
during church or just think about shopping because no matter what time
of year it was Faith loved to shop for herself.
Faith called home to get her Mommy to change her mind as her list
was so long. Hello Faith, her mommy said. Mommy, do I have
to go to church? I haven’t written my list to Santa!
Her Mommy replied with a sigh. You can if you must. When
Faith’s parents left she thought of everything she wanted: a pony, a
doll, money! SContinue reading “The Old Wooden Cross”
I’ve always thought of “doubt” as a BIG NEGATIVE. It is true that doubt
can “nullify your prayers, make you lose your witness”, according to the
sermon I heard at church this past Sunday. This sermon gave some “twist of
thought”, for me to feed on. The minister used the scripture reading in
Luke1:5-25. We can read in verse 18, that even Zechariah doubted. The
minister said that sometimes, doubt is beneficial for those of us who seek
truth. He said that “doubt is benefical, if it causes us to investigate the
facts.” “If we don’t doubt some things, we will eventually be lead astray.”
(Matt. 24:4) He gave us two steps to overcome doubt: 1) examine the evidence
(by researching God’s Word) 2)determine that you are going to obey the
results of your research (obeying God’s Word) Wow, what a change in my
perspective on the word “doubt”.
The Second Epistle of John is one of my favorite readings. Walk in truth in vs. 4, gives us the understand that to know truth requires our doing it. Love is a key in vs. 5,6 and to love pleases God. I admit to you that both walk in truth and love one another makes me think of a portion of one of Winston Churchill’s quotes: “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma…” The mystery of Jesus Christ and His laying in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and His hanging on a cross for our sins and the thoughts of His Second Coming brings me to ponder it as a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. I think it is just waiting to be solved by the action of Love from each of us.
I always linger over the Salutation and Blessing of this letter. Was the writer addressing a Mother and her children? A Spiritual leader in the church and her spiritual children, thContinue reading “Walk In Love”
Once upon a time there were three worker bees named, Peter, Noah, and Jacob. They were looking for honey until Peter was hit with an idea. We shall find our beloved queen a king, who will adore her and praise her. He will be beautiful!
All the bees stood in excitement till Noah said, Where will we find such a king.
The three bees were on there search until they reached a king who was very handsome.
To see if the king is thoughtful we will see if he will feed us as if we were poor, said Jacob.
As the three bees went up to the handsome king they were order to stop by him with an, Ewwwwwww! Look at those foolish clothes! GET OUT, SCRAM, AND BEAT IT! The bees knew only a thoughtful king would be good enough for their queen.
Next the bees saw the strongest honey bee ever! They knew their queen needs a king that is kind so they acted like a weak old man trying to crosContinue reading “Find the King”
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