Spiritual Thoughts

  C hallenge yourself to live up to your remarkable potential, every day. ~ Ralph Marston   I considered my ways and turned my feet to Your testimonies. ~ Psalm 119:59

  Friday Tale - Mental Prisons   H abits play an important role in your life. Like many aspects of your life, habits can be considered both a blessing and a curse.     Dr. Jay Dishman wrote, "Recently I visited Alcatraz Prison. Once it housed the most hardened of criminals. Today it is open to tourists under the direction of the United States Parks Department. Many men have tried to escape Alcatraz; no one is known to have succeeded. As I listened to the tour guide explain the impossibility of escape, I thought of other prisons equally confining but where the doors are never locked, no guards walk the halls, and escape is encouraged and possible. That prison is Habit."     Our habit is thinking about ourselves and our environment as a jail or a paradise. We need but to look around us to see people who are rich emotionally and materially because they think and feel rich. We also see people who are laden with emotional and material debt because they think lack. Some are i

  H e who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another. ~ Epicurus   Y ou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is focused on You: because he trusts in You. ~ Isaiah 26:3

  E very problem in life has a lesson for you to learn. ~ R. Bach   P atience and gentle talk can convince a ruler and overcome any problem. ~ Proverbs 25:15

  Y ou must be the change you wish to see in others. ~ Gandhi   B e on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, BUT grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ~ 2 Peter 3:17-18

  O ur true character is what we do when we think no one is looking. ~ H. Jackson Browne   A nd endurance builds character, which gives us a hope. ~ Romans 5:4

  Friday Tale - $20.00   A well-known speaker started off his seminar holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up.    He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple up the $20-dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it...?"    Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.   He said, “My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances t

  G ratitude is the memory of the heart. ~ Jean-Baptiste Massieu   T herefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, overflowing with gratitude. ~ Colossians 2:6-7

  N othing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. ~ William James   O n with it, then, and finish the job!! Be as eager to finish it as you were to plan it, and do it with what you now have. ~ 2 Corinthians 8:11 (GJB)

  W e have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties. ~ Oswald Chambers   F inally, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. ~ Ephesians 6:10

BUT as I look back at my life, it is easy to see that the times when my wisdom and understanding grew to new levels; those times when I approached becoming the person I long to be; it was always the times that followed negative circumstances. ~ Vic Johnson   BUT to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ,  keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exultation. ~ 1 Peter 4:13

  Friday Tale - The High School Loser For Sparky school was all but impossible. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He flunked physics in high school getting a grade of zero. Sparky also flunked Latin, algebra and English. He didn't do much better in sports. Although he did manage to make the school's golf team, he lost the only important match of the season.          Throughout his youth Sparky was awkward socially. He was not actually disliked by the other students; no one cared that much. He was surprised if a classmate ever said hello to him outside of school hours. There's no way to tell how he might have done at dating. Sparky never once asked a girl to go out in high school. He was too afraid of being turned down.          Sparky was a loser. He, his classmates...everyone knew it. So he rolled with it. Sparky had made up his mind early in life that if things were meant to work out, they would. Otherwise he would content himself with what appeared to be

  L ife is like a a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use. ~ Charles M. Shultz   B e on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, BUT grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ~ 2 Peter 3:18

  A man who is a master of patience is master of everything else. ~ George Savile   Y ou too be patience; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. ~ James 5:8

  B ecome a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be  or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities - always see them, for they are always there. A little better each day. ~ Norman Vincent Peale   A h Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You. As for me, I shall call upon God, and the LORD will save me. ~ Jeremiah 32:17; Psalm 55:16

  P atience, persistence, and perseverance. A little more each day, a little better each day. ~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie   W e urge you admonish the unruly, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:14

  Friday Tale - Almost Deleted   N ot too long ago my husband and one of his best friends had an argument. After telling me what had happened, my husband told me to delete his friend's name from the cell phone speed dial.   I hesitated and told him he was just angry and not to act too quickly. He insisted he would attempt to do it himself if I didn't, so I did. That is when I had my “moment”.   I told him, “It's easy to delete his name from the phone, but be careful about deleting him from your life. Friends are blessings from God and even though sometimes they disappoint us, we should realize they are just human.”   From nowhere I said, “What if God deleted our names from the Book of Life every time we let Him down? I wouldn't have a chance because I know I fail to live up to His expectations every day.”   Nothing else was said but I thought about it for a very long time. We so often let anger cause us to banish people from our lives for the most trivial rea

  L et us be kind, The way is long and lonely and human hearts are asking for this only - that we be kind. We cannot know the grief that men may borrow, We cannot see the souls storm swept by sorry, BUT love can shine the way today, tomorrow - Let us be kind. ~ W. Lomax Childress B e kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. ~ Ephesians 4:32

  G ratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving days, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. ~ William Arthur Ward   I n everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

  W ith gratitude, all life appears as a blessing ~ without gratitude, all of life is perceived as a burden. ~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie   F or everything created by God is good, and nothing is be rejected if it is received with gratitude. ~ 1 Timothy 4:

  F ocus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Focus on your character, not your reputation. Focus on your blessings, not your misfortunes. ~ Roy T. Bennett   T o sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble, not returning evil for evil, BUT giving a blessing instead. ~ 1 Peter 3:8-