Tag Archives: Faith

The 03/31/13 Joy Jar

30 Mar

The story of Easter Sunday is the story of the Resurrection of Christ. Because of the empty tomb, death is conquered and those in Christ will have eternal life. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the Resurrection of Jesus which gave moi eternal life.

‘Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Spanish Student

The story of Easter is the story of Gods wonderful window of divine surprise.

Carl Knudsen

The joyful news that He is risen does not change the contemporary world.  Still before us lie work, discipline, sacrifice.  But the fact of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline, and make the sacrifice. 

Henry Knox Sherrill

Easter is not a time for groping through dusty, musty tomes or tombs to disprove spontaneous generation or even to prove life eternal.  It is a day to fan the ashes of dead hope, a day to banish doubts and seek the slopes where the sun is rising, to revel in the faith which transports us out of ourselves and the dead past into the vast and inviting unknown.

Author unknown, as quoted in the Lewiston Tribune

There is not room for Death,
Nor atom that his might could render void:
Thou – Thou art Being and Breath,
And what Thou art may never be destroyed.

Emily Bronte

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The 02/27/13 Joy Jar

26 Feb

Today was the first day of moi’s prayer group which meets from 6:30 a.m. To 7:30 a.m. Every Tuesday. That’s right, 6:30 a.m. Definitely not moi time. The group meets and prays as the Spirit moves. Prayer is not only a great gift, but a great comfort. Those who are prayerful people radiate a sense of peace. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the gift of prayer.

“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
Søren Kierkegaard

“Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.”
Robert Frost

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
St. Francis of Assisi

“The Simple Path
Silence is Prayer
Prayer is Faith
Faith is Love
Love is Service
The Fruit of Service is Peace”
Mother Teresa

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.”
Corrie ten Boom

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
Meister Eckhart

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The 12/25/12 ‘Joy Jar’

30 Dec
People should have a vision or goals to help guide them along their life journey. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ deals with vision:
Proverbs 29:18 “For lack of vision my people perish”
“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”
Bruce Lee
“The most pathetic person in the world is some one who has sight but no vision.”
Helen Keller
Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!
Bob Marley
I’m most proud of the blessings that God has bestowed upon me, in my life. He’s given me the vision to truly see that you can fall down, but you can still get back up. Hopefully I’ll learn from my mistakes and have the opportunity to strengthen and improve the next thing I do.
Martin Lawrence

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The 12/22/12 ‘Joy Jar’

30 Dec
Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is hope:
According to Rev. Trev:
All of us are one phone call away from slipping from our perch on the rope . It’s good to take time to be reminded how to hope.
1. Hope brings strength –

but those who hope in the LORD 
will renew their strength. 
They will soar on wings like eagles; 
they will run and not grow weary, 
they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

2. Hope brings joy and peace –

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 
Romans 15:13

3. Hope brings unfailing love –

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, 
even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:22

4. Hope makes effective witnesses –

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 2 Corinthians 3:12

5. Hope brings rest –

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; 
 my hope comes from him. Psalm 62:5

http://revtrev.com/hope/why-is-hope-so-important/

“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must of felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.
” Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, ‘Wait and Hope.”
― Alexandre Dumas
“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
― Emily Dickinson

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The 12/21/12 ‘Joy Jar’

30 Dec
Looks like we are all here and the world didn’t end. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is Dare to Be
“Dare to Be

When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully.

When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light.

When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.

When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway.

When life seems to beat you down, dare to fight back.

When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some.

When you’re feeling tired, dare to keep going.

When times are tough, dare to be tougher.

When love hurts you, dare to love again.

When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal.

When another is lost, dare to help them find the way.

When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand.

When you cross paths with another, dare to make them smile.

When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too.

When the day has ended, dare to feel as you’ve done your best.

Dare to be the best you can –

At all times, Dare to be!”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

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The 12/21/12 ‘Joy Jar’

30 Dec
Depending upon whom you believe, December 21 will be the end of the world. Not for moi, she is starting a ‘Joy Jar.’ Every day she will put a positive affirmative or goal in her jar for the next year. December 21 truly is the beginning of the rest of moi’s life. The first affirmation:

New International Version (©1984) Psalm 118:24
This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
This is moi’s change:

This is the year that the LORD has made, moi will rejoice and be glad in it.

Happy December 21!

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Very bad things do happen to very good people

15 Dec

Here’s today’s COMMENT FROM AN OLD FART: Times of trial try the faith of the believer. Christina Ng of Good Morning America reports in the article, Priest’s ‘Horrible’ Job Telling Parents of Children’s Deaths:

A Newtown, Conn., priest had the “horrible” job of informing families this morning that their children had been killed in the elementary school massacre.

There were 20 children among the 27 people brutally killed the day Adam Lanza, 20, invaded Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire on staff and students. Lanza was also found dead in the school.

Medical examiners have completed the grim work of identifying all of the victims at the school and families were informed early this morning that their loved ones had been killed.

“We were gathered until after midnight and we were sent out with teams to go to the homes of the victims,” parish priest Monsignor Robert Weiss told “Good Morning America” today. “We went to their homes early this morning to confirm the death of their children and it was just horrible.” http://gma.yahoo.com/priests-horrible-job-telling-parents-childrens-deaths-165442686–abc-news-topstories.html

It could have been a priest, it could have been a rabbi, it could have been a minister or the head of a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or Sikh temple. It could have been some person of no faith who would see the Sandy Hook massacre as one more reason not to believe. It is at times when one tries to fathom the death of children with reasons known only to the tortured soul of the killer that folks first ask why and then go on to what it is they believe.

REM poses the question for many in their ditty “Losing My Religion”

Oh life, it’s bigger
It’s bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I set it up

That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep a view
And I don’t know if I can do it
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough….

Some of those who suffer unfathomable lose will indeed lose their religion, while other will find their faith. The answer depends on the question that they ask.

The question is an age old question which is why do bad things happen to good people? Job asked this very question of God. Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote the 1978 book When Bad Things Happen to Good People which attempted to explain why good people suffer.

Kushner outlines the various ways that people try to salvage their view of God and His orderly world. They explain that misfortune occurs because

  1. Someone made a mistake, or failed in the observance of some religious duty.
  2. God has a hidden purpose, or is making use of knowledge we don’t have.
  3. Suffering itself will turn out to be good for us.
  4. God’s purpose is in the grand design of the Universe (which is good and beautiful), not in the life of the individual.
  5. Suffering teaches something, either to us or to those who see us suffer.
  6. Suffering is a test.
  7. Death leads us and our loved ones to a better place.

Kushner rejects all of these explanations.

“All the responses to tragedy which we have considered have at least one thing in common. They all assume that God is the cause of our suffering, and they try to understand why God would want us to suffer. … There may be another approach. Maybe God does not cause our suffering. Maybe it happens for some reason other than the will of God.” http://www.gurus.org/dougdeb/Courses/bestsellers/Kushner/BT-1.htm

Modern society is loath to deal with the concept of evil, because evil cannot be treated with Prozac, or therapy, or meditation. It is simply easier to hold God responsible and walk away.

Over the next months and years many will be losing their religion and many others will find their faith. Because of the evil that exists in the world, some very bad things happen to some very good people.

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