Spiritual Thoughts

  Friday Tale ~ Meal Fund T hey call it “lunch shaming.” I call it cruelty. For nearly four decades, I stood by and saw it play out in my classroom’s shadow. Then one ordinary Tuesday, I finally broke the rules. My name is Daniel Whitmore. For 38 years, I’ve been a history teacher. My days were spent inside gray cinder block walls, with shelves of fraying textbooks and the steady drone of the dismissal bell at 2:15 every afternoon. I taught U.S. history—wars, speeches, the Great Depression. I told my students about bread lines, dust bowls, and families that had to scrape together pennies just to put food on the table. But the hardest lesson wasn’t in any chapter. It happened every day in the cafeteria. It was a Tuesday when I noticed it with new eyes. One of my quieter sophomores, Jamie, a boy who sat at the back of third period, was in the lunch line. He was a good kid, always sketching little Union soldiers or Civil War cannons in the margins of his notes. That day, when he got t...

  D o not anticipate trouble, or  worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. ~ Benjamin Franklin BUT  the worries of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. Cast all your anxiety on God,  because He cares for you. ~ Mark 4:19 & 1 Peter 5:7

  T he healthy, the strong individual, is the one who asks for help when he/she needs it. Whether he has an abscess on his knee or in his soul. ~ Rona Barret I mmediately the boys father cried out, and said, "I do believe, help my unbelief." ~ Mark 9:24

  T o be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson A nd the world is passing away along with its desires, BUT whoever does the will of God abides forever. ~ 1 John 2:17

  L ive as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. ~ Mahatma Gandhi T he instructions of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean,  enduring forever. ~ Psalm 19:8-9

  Friday Tale ~ Matthew 5:44 in Action J ack tossed the papers on my desk -- his eyebrows knit into a straight line as he glared at me. "What's wrong?" I asked.   He jabbed a finger at the proposal. "Next time you want to change anything, ask me first," he said, turning on his heels and leaving me stewing in anger. How dare he treat me like that, I thought. I had changed one long sentence, and corrected grammar -- something I thought I was paid to do.   It's not that I hadn't been warned. The other women, who had served in my place before me, called him names I couldn't repeat. One co-worker took me aside the first day. "He's personally responsible for two different secretaries leaving the firm," she whispered.   As the weeks went by, I grew to despise Jack. It was against everything I believed in -- turn the other cheek and love your enemies. But Jack quickly slapped a verbal insult on any cheek turned his way. I prayed about it, but t...

  T o have ideas is to gather flowers; to think, is to weave them into garlands. ~ Anne-Sophie Swetchine F inally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good reputation, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise think  on these things. ~ Philippians 4:8

  W here the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli O  LORD, we have waited for you eagerly; Your name, Your memory, is the desire of our lives.  At night my life longs for You, indeed, my breath within me seeks You diligently. ~ Isaiah 26:8-9

  W e never get dizzy  from doing good turns. ~ George Bengis W ith good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord. ~ Ephesians 6:7-8