A dear friend sent me this email. It's one of those chain letters that I've cut off the bottom...just read what love is, as seen from the prespective and eyes of children. We should never forget, they are watching us.....
'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'
Rebecca- age 8
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'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'
Billy - age 4
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'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'
Karl - age 5
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'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'
Chrissy - age 6
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'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'
Terri - age 4
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'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'
Danny - age 7
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'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss'
Emily - age 8
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'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)
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'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,'
Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)
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'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.'
Noelle - age 7
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'My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'
Clare - age 6
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'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'
Elaine-age 5
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'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.'
Chris - age 7
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'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'
Mary Ann - age 4
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'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.'
Mark - age 6
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'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.'
Jessica - age 8
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The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
'Nothing, I just helped him cry'
Thursday, January 17
A brother falling....
But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ's victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere. 2 Corinthians 2:14 AMP
If you spend anytime amongst veterans of battlefields, no matter where they fought or against whom, you find the familiar stories of fallen comrades in arms and the lengths that others went to get to them. A brother, falling on the battlefield of this spiritual war is not unnoticed either, by God or his brothers in arms.
My brothers have come to me, even to catch me before I've hit the hard earth and have drawn me into relationship to restore my battered spirit. One called to speak words of wisdom and then the other step forth with the Corinthians verse and a word to speak of waiting in patience for the greater work that God has for me.
In my dreams lately, which I very seldom remember, I have been back upon the battlefield of this war between the saints and the ruler of this world.
There is a pause, any vet will tell you, almost audible no matter the noisiness of battle that sweeps across friend and foe almost like a physical wave. The sounds disapate for a few moments and the vision becomes sharply focused and drawn to the cause of this disturbance. Everyone looks to the event horizon and is either heartened or demoralized by what they see there.
I have hit that moment and as my eyes are drawn to the horizon, all I can see is more of the enemy's force rolling like a wave across the sky. My heart is weak and my soul cries out in fear, how can this small band of brothers (the body of Christ) stand against such multitude. My humanitity wants to run but my faith tells me to stand.
Stand despite the image of overwhelming odds.....
Stand despite the failing of the flesh...........
Stand because of the faith sized no bigger than a mustard seed.....
Something is coming on the horizon that is going to alter the landscape of the world so radically that everyone will know.
I feel that pregnant pause sweeping the battlefield of this spiritual fight.
Will you stand on your faith and hold your ground?
or will you trust in what you can see.............
the moment to choose is coming to a point of no choice. You will have to make your decision.
Will you stand before the throne in humble triumph?
Or on your knees in heartbreaking realization of what you've lost?
If you spend anytime amongst veterans of battlefields, no matter where they fought or against whom, you find the familiar stories of fallen comrades in arms and the lengths that others went to get to them. A brother, falling on the battlefield of this spiritual war is not unnoticed either, by God or his brothers in arms.
My brothers have come to me, even to catch me before I've hit the hard earth and have drawn me into relationship to restore my battered spirit. One called to speak words of wisdom and then the other step forth with the Corinthians verse and a word to speak of waiting in patience for the greater work that God has for me.
In my dreams lately, which I very seldom remember, I have been back upon the battlefield of this war between the saints and the ruler of this world.
There is a pause, any vet will tell you, almost audible no matter the noisiness of battle that sweeps across friend and foe almost like a physical wave. The sounds disapate for a few moments and the vision becomes sharply focused and drawn to the cause of this disturbance. Everyone looks to the event horizon and is either heartened or demoralized by what they see there.
I have hit that moment and as my eyes are drawn to the horizon, all I can see is more of the enemy's force rolling like a wave across the sky. My heart is weak and my soul cries out in fear, how can this small band of brothers (the body of Christ) stand against such multitude. My humanitity wants to run but my faith tells me to stand.
Stand despite the image of overwhelming odds.....
Stand despite the failing of the flesh...........
Stand because of the faith sized no bigger than a mustard seed.....
Something is coming on the horizon that is going to alter the landscape of the world so radically that everyone will know.
I feel that pregnant pause sweeping the battlefield of this spiritual fight.
Will you stand on your faith and hold your ground?
or will you trust in what you can see.............
the moment to choose is coming to a point of no choice. You will have to make your decision.
Will you stand before the throne in humble triumph?
Or on your knees in heartbreaking realization of what you've lost?
Defeat.....
"My life dissolves and weeps itself away for heaviness; raise me up and strengthen me according to [the promises of] Your word." Psalm 119:28 (AMP)
Sometimes you win in your fights against the giants that are piling upon your weary and battle fatigued heart, sometimes they gain the upper hand and you stumble from the battlefield sick with sorrow and pain. Some would point to a 'lack' of faith that has caused your downfall against the giants of your sinful and human heart, others would say God is testing, training, and molding, and yet others would shake their head, look at you, and say they want nothing to do with a God that will allow something like that to happen to one of His "children."
We deceive ourselves sometimes in the battles we face in this world and this life. Yesterday, with the Primary over in Michigan, several of my friends were sitting at a table at my old Church and I sat with them for a few. It is amazing the scope of range that comes out when Christians discuss politics. I voted for Huckabee, not because he is the most stellar candidate….but he is the most aligned with what I consider important. Several of my friends voted for Romney, because he has hit the political hot button here that is called the ECONOMY. But that wasn't what disturbed me, it was the comment that was made by someone else that they thought I didn't hear. "The country has survived hundreds of years, it will survive this."
My heart is too heavy to speak of the political mess that pervades this country, but that attitude that most Americans have—that pervades even the most stalwart of hearts in the Christian community---that has created this mess in the first place. "I have to do nothing. It will all blow over because THAT is what is has always done."
And this attitude seeps into our personal life and our faith….that allowance of "not that big of a deal" when we engage in lustful looks at the other sex, that turns into a divorce on the grounds of adultery. That simple "friendship" turns into an affair that destroys the lives of at least one family, if not two.
We talk of the redeeming love of God, pointing to the promises of health and wealth to ease our guilt of a world gone chaotic, and forget why it has gotten that way in the first place. We look to the promise of only goodness coming from the plans of the Father and forget the precepts and commandments that are to guide us. We look to taking care of our neighbor's physical needs and call that "godliness" and then forget that the TRUTH is what is absolutely what Godliness is.
Sometimes we stand against the demons of the world and lose. Sometimes we stand in full armor and wind up on our butt, stripped of dignity and grace. Sometimes we wonder what the heck we are fighting for in the first place when it would be so easy just to stop trying and go with the flow for once.
Sometimes it isn't how we fight our battles and whether we win or lose. Sometimes our hearts become overburdened and we get distracted by the heaviness of sorrow, missing the block on the incoming blade of our giant. Sometimes the fight is forcibly beaten from us.
It isn't how we fight our battles, win or lose. It is rather what we do when faced with that defeat, that loss, that overwhelming sorrow.
Do we admit to it, claim it all----the sorrow, the loss, the mistake, and then look to the helping hand of the Father who truly loves us?
Or do we just cry UNCLE and surrender?
My heart is heavy with sorrow and my bones ache from the fight. I do not want to keep on, because sorrow and sadness will be my companions. But, even as my giant towers over me in seeming victory……..
I will look to God and cry out for His strength.
To understand,
To mourn,
and to gain wisdom from the fall.
Sometimes you win in your fights against the giants that are piling upon your weary and battle fatigued heart, sometimes they gain the upper hand and you stumble from the battlefield sick with sorrow and pain. Some would point to a 'lack' of faith that has caused your downfall against the giants of your sinful and human heart, others would say God is testing, training, and molding, and yet others would shake their head, look at you, and say they want nothing to do with a God that will allow something like that to happen to one of His "children."
We deceive ourselves sometimes in the battles we face in this world and this life. Yesterday, with the Primary over in Michigan, several of my friends were sitting at a table at my old Church and I sat with them for a few. It is amazing the scope of range that comes out when Christians discuss politics. I voted for Huckabee, not because he is the most stellar candidate….but he is the most aligned with what I consider important. Several of my friends voted for Romney, because he has hit the political hot button here that is called the ECONOMY. But that wasn't what disturbed me, it was the comment that was made by someone else that they thought I didn't hear. "The country has survived hundreds of years, it will survive this."
My heart is too heavy to speak of the political mess that pervades this country, but that attitude that most Americans have—that pervades even the most stalwart of hearts in the Christian community---that has created this mess in the first place. "I have to do nothing. It will all blow over because THAT is what is has always done."
And this attitude seeps into our personal life and our faith….that allowance of "not that big of a deal" when we engage in lustful looks at the other sex, that turns into a divorce on the grounds of adultery. That simple "friendship" turns into an affair that destroys the lives of at least one family, if not two.
We talk of the redeeming love of God, pointing to the promises of health and wealth to ease our guilt of a world gone chaotic, and forget why it has gotten that way in the first place. We look to the promise of only goodness coming from the plans of the Father and forget the precepts and commandments that are to guide us. We look to taking care of our neighbor's physical needs and call that "godliness" and then forget that the TRUTH is what is absolutely what Godliness is.
Sometimes we stand against the demons of the world and lose. Sometimes we stand in full armor and wind up on our butt, stripped of dignity and grace. Sometimes we wonder what the heck we are fighting for in the first place when it would be so easy just to stop trying and go with the flow for once.
Sometimes it isn't how we fight our battles and whether we win or lose. Sometimes our hearts become overburdened and we get distracted by the heaviness of sorrow, missing the block on the incoming blade of our giant. Sometimes the fight is forcibly beaten from us.
It isn't how we fight our battles, win or lose. It is rather what we do when faced with that defeat, that loss, that overwhelming sorrow.
Do we admit to it, claim it all----the sorrow, the loss, the mistake, and then look to the helping hand of the Father who truly loves us?
Or do we just cry UNCLE and surrender?
My heart is heavy with sorrow and my bones ache from the fight. I do not want to keep on, because sorrow and sadness will be my companions. But, even as my giant towers over me in seeming victory……..
I will look to God and cry out for His strength.
To understand,
To mourn,
and to gain wisdom from the fall.
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