The Spirit of Christmas Gone Wrong (a poem)

1 Cor. 16:14 "Let all your things be done with charity."

Spirit of Christmas

Where has all the loving gone

in the hectic busy throng

of people scurried and buried

in the hustle and bustle gone wrong.

The spirit of Christ left behind

nowhere to find the peace

within my mind as all the souls

entwined by greed are blind.

Empty souls filled with hate  

it's clearly too late as your fate 

is sealed in a tomb with no room

for the saving grace to bloom

The spirit of Christmas shed

dead for the One who bled in 

His word we were led away 

from the dread that bears the dead

From where I stand my life is grand

the world is bland in no man's land

flames all fanned by the hate of man

it is with the love of Christ I stand.

The Spirit of Christmas will thrive

strive as I might to stay alive when

the peace surrounds me that I’ve 

been forced from man to survive.

Feeling Sad

 Writing this, thinking of Christopher I look out the window and see this. 

Col. 3:15 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”

A Sad Day

I could feel the sadness brewing at the beginning of the week but when Thanksgiving arrived it hit me like a Mack truck running me over, and my body left to lie on the cold concrete as the truck kept going. I always get sad around the holidays missing my family but it hit me harder this year I think because my one and only living son had to work.

I could feel the hustle and bustle coming through my screen as my days are not much more than sitting behind a screen writing my feelings down or cleaning and scrubbing the house to my liking as I prepare for the Christmas season. I just like a clean house so it tends to keep me busy on a daily basis.

It was 34 years ago on Thanksgiving day that I lost my firstborn son. I often think of what my son would be like had he been able to live in this crazy world. Sometimes I’m thankful that he didn’t have to endure years of pain with me as a failing mother and that he resided with his heavenly Father who would shield him from the world's animosity; it doesn’t hurt any less, after all, Christopher was still born!

It’s too long of a story to get into but the gist of it is, the sharp stinging pains started on Thanksgiving Day in 1982, and a doctor visit the next day confirmed my nine-month fetus was lying in a tomb, my body. A week would pass before the dead lifeless baby was delivered and it was one of those changing points in my life that affected me for life. 

Every Thanksgiving Day has been a kind of memorial day for me (no one else) when I think of that day. I don’t cling to the sadness just for that day but the days that followed leading up to Christopher’s birthday, December 2nd. This year was no different as my husband and I sat at an empty table alone, eating our scrumptious dinner that I was ever so grateful to be eating.

I consider myself to be a strong person but there are two days that buckle me to my knees and that is Astri’s birthday and Christopher’s birthday, my two angel babies that didn’t have work to do on earth but had plenty to do in heaven!

So maybe you can sympathize with me as I eagerly made the turkey, the mashed potatoes, yams, and dressing this year but the meal when done, would only fill my husband and my stomach. Tears streamed down my face during prayer as I was missing so much, feeling so empty waiting to be filled. This was Adam’s first Thanksgiving away from the table and I felt the emptiness in the core of my bones.

I watched as family after family rejoiced in spending time with one another. Picture after picture of sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles all gathering around for what was to culminate in a family tradition. Family time together, that is what Thanksgiving is to many people but I do know a few who celebrated alone and maybe no one offered a prayer for them (but me) because they were too busy being thankful for what was in front of them.

I think in some way I shaped my own family tradition of loneliness on Thanksgiving Day and not really understanding or comprehending what Family Tradition is all about. My family back home celebrated in their own non-traditional way. My brother invited my mother to his house, my other brother went to his families home, while my other two brothers and sister all ate alone, like me. (My one brother is homeless, the other alone in Tennessee, my sister's kids all ate at their friend's house, I guess, because tradition is not the norm for my blood family)

It’s pretty sad when you miss family because of a death and they’re no longer with you to celebrate, or you live too far away to get together for the turkey day celebration, but it is quite downright pathetic when you have a big uncaring family and you’re left alone on the holiday even without a simple holiday greeting of Happy Thanksgiving! Just so you know, *I* DID make the effort to extend a greeting to those blood family members who are my ‘friends’ on facebook. A huge family and two replies, wow that made my day.

Now my virtual family all replies when you say Happy Thanksgiving to make you feel like some part of their family and celebration; that takes the sting off of feeling depressed during the holiday. Had it not been for them, I would have probably spent the day puddled in tears, feeling hurt and throwing myself a pity party.

My writing break is not over yet but I just had to get this off of my chest and writing is my only healing spot. Thank you all for reading but most off all THANK YOU for allowing me to see traditions through your eyes and letting me know that families DO exist in the world today! Thank you for sharing you with me!

See it or not, this cross was for me. 

Just A Meme To Me

Just a Meme to Me

I learn who you are through memes

The new world order so it seems

I don’t understand

The image is bland

Lies in disguise as one deems.

I often am left to wonder

Why people choose to plunder

What once was great

is it now too late

to dig out what has put us under.

I’d love to learn from word

What actually you heard.

Lines so discreet

The lies of deceit

The image you paint is so blurred

I learn who you are through memes

Intruding through the seams

You’re foreign to me

No words do I see

You’re rendered in picturesque themes.

Pss. 33:4 “For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.”

Poetry Sunday ~ My Father and Servant

Col. 3:15 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”

~My Father~

He strives to walk along the sand

With all his might he takes a stand

Raises up one swift hand

He smites the sea; he smites the land

He cowers not to you or me

Behold his love! Behold his glory!

Turn the page of inner fury

He rises up above the waves

Thrashing down the light that saves

Scanning all the open shore

The beacon shines forevermore

He is my Father strong and pure

The light that sits; awaits his call

Amid the storm to rise and fall

The lighthouse stands strong and tall

To guide one home through it all!

~The Servant ~

Be like children of marvelous wonder,

rise up and hear His call.

Be not fooled by raging thunder,

God has blessed us one and all.

Bow down your ear to hear His word.

Lift your voice in praise

Allow His truth in you be stirred

Put off corrupted lustful ways.

Rejoice in Him who saved your soul

To fellowship be kind

Unity becomes your goal

Then TRUTH is what you’ll find.

copyright © Joni Zipp

* a repost from November 23, 2008

The Season begins where we need to be thankful for all that we have, and thank the One who made it all possible. God Bless ~ Joni

Quotation Saturday ~ Thanksgiving

Pss. 100:4 “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

CHANGE

“Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away... and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast.... be happy about your growth, in which of course you can't take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don't torment them with your doubts and don't frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn't be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn't necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust.... and don't expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.” 
― Rainer Maria Rilke

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” 
― Paulo Coelho

“We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't have something better.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

INSPIRATION

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” 
― Kurt Vonnegut

“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.” 
― Lou Holtz

“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.” 
― Elizabeth Gilbert

“And still, after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."

Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.” 
― Hafez

“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” 
― Marcus Aurelius

SPIRIT-FILLED

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.” 
― Mother Teresa

“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.” 
― Francis of Assisi

“How hurtful it can be to deny one's true self and live a life of lies just to appease others.” 
― June Ahern

“What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.” 
― Hans Urs von Balthasar

THANKSGIVING

“Because thankfulness is the tonic that always cures the cancers of greed, envy and jealousy, it should be taken in liberal doses daily.” 
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” 
― W.T. Purkiser

“I pray for you, that all your misgivings will be melted to thanksgivings. Remember that the shadow a thing casts often far exceeds the size of the thing itself (especially if the light be low on the horizon) and though some future fear may strut brave darkness as you approach, the thing itself will be but a speck when seen from beyond. Oh, that He would restore us often with that 'aspect from beyond,' to see a thing as He sees it, to remember that He dealeth with us as with sons.” 
― Jim Elliot

“The Christian who walks with the Lord and keeps constant communion with Him will see many reason for rejoicing and thanksgiving all day long.” 
― Warren W. Wiersbe

May the Spirit of Thanksgiving dwell in you today and always, God Bless!
~ Joni

Col. 3:15 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”

Change is Coming

Isaiah 26:9 (NIV)

My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

Change is Coming

Change is coming in the air like a veiled morning fog. I can see it in the spiraling leaves being swept by the wind. I can feel it in the temperatures ever changing with the season. I can smell it blowing in the air the sweet scent of change that will wash over me as a waterfall.

I felt the change coming and I wanted it to be swift but as you know, my plans are not Gods plans and here I sit today on my 201st post of the year as I barrel toward my 203rd goal of posts so I can rest. After this post, I will end with Quotation Saturday and Poetry Sunday, then be on my way to Holy day. I’ve watched as my stats flew through the roof this year and as I love my supportive friends very much, facebook was not the only source that had me soaring. 

I’ve had to bear a lot this year as people have either liked or disliked what I’ve said and it’s been an interesting year tolerating what all of you have either said or not said. Now it is my turn to reflect on me not what others do or say or how they acted and reacted. It has been a year of scars and blemishes by people knowingly or unknowingly saying things that cut me and now I must go and heal. The New Year cannot come without my healing taking place. 

I tried to stay away from Social Media when it got too bad, the news when it got too loud, and the world when it got too hard. I’ve seen friends disappear and new friends emerge. All in all the year has been good to me, pain wise and otherwise, I’ve survived.

I feel like a lone wolf who’s been caught in a bear trap, freed and released to wander in the wilderness among the animals of the forest. Sorry humans, for relinquishing you to the animal species, but I have not seen much humanistic display this year; I’ll have to dig and look back to see if any existed.

I won’t get back to you on that because the change calls for me to find a nice cove to hibernate in peeking out only to retrieve nourishment to sustain me through the winter. Nourishment to my soul can only be found one way and it isn’t anywhere connected to a screen and keyboard. 

I have some serious health issues to contend with in the coming new year but I’m not at liberty to go into anything before the holiday season. Maybe that will be my new year blog beginning seeking out people who relate to what I’m experiencing but for now, my little semi-hibernation cove will have to do. 

My Thanksgiving will be spent in thankfulness with my husband. We’re not going to have a humongous meal like in prior years just something simple where we have plenty of leftovers for the next day, not the next month. My son will have to work on turkey day from nine to five so it will be a bit different by not having him in the house as my helper. 

I know what you’re thinking, working on Thanksgiving Day? Well, he’ll be out of a job in a couple of weeks because of the store closing down so he’s trying to make all the money he can to prepare for the interim of joblessness. As of December 2, he’ll have been there five months and the young man has worked his heart out in those five months, so I can put away any selfishness I have in wanting him home as I find a new way of life in the empty nest.

I’ll also be preparing for new ventures in the coming year so during this holiday season I’ll be enjoying the breathing room necessary to carry me through the lone wolf syndrome. May you enjoy the sights, sounds, aromas, tastes and magnificent wonders of a Holy Season and always remember when you’re feeling selfish, greedy, and prideful that Jesus sacrificed His life for you so you would think of others before yourself. 

God Bless You ALL!

1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV)

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

The Season of JOY!

Pss. 51:8 “Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.”

“If you have music inside you, you have God in you.” ~ Joni 

Define what brings you joy.

As I’m winding down my goal setting of 203 blog posts this year, I’m leading you to music, joy, and happiness all found with the LOVE of the Lord. I know this might sound radical but it is my life and the way I live on a daily basis until something negative smacks me upside the head. As you know, this year has been one of them kind of years.

I pushed through with post after positive post never relegating myself to the negativity out there taking over the world. I can only say, there is only one source to that JOY and happiness on a daily basis and that is finding the love of God in the depth of your soul and find music to be a natural healer on days that don’t measure up for you.

If you’ve read yesterday’s blog, you’ll read how music has a way of healing and I posted links to show proof that music is used in many healing capacities. I know that God is the ultimate healer and since we can’t see Spirit or soul we can only FEEL Him to get to KNOW Him, music is His way of intimately touching us through the rhythmic vibrations.

If you say that sad songs make you cry, they make you reminisce, that is all part of God’s plan to make you feel and sense the world around you and Him IN you. God does not ask us not to cry. He doesn’t order us to be stoic and never show emotion, no, tears are a perfect form of allowing God to stream down your face.

Grief is another form of God showing us that emotions are okay to express. When you hear a song, or think about a loved one you lost (often when a song is played) God is planting a seed of remembrance in your heart that has you directly touching Him. 

Joy and Love are other avenues of expressing God from within your soul. I’d like to do a musical experiment of sorts if you don’t mind. You’ll feel something with each link and I’d love to hear your feedback, if not, take to heart what you experience in the sincerest form and allow them to help you grow wherever you may need.

Click this link: bad vibrations?

Good vibrations? 

Intimacy with God - 

I can almost 100% guarantee you didn’t make it through the bad song, your heart stirred at the good vibration one, but your soul QUIVERED at the seconds or minutes you spent in the intimacy with God link. THAT my friends is the musical Healer in Action!

My mission this year was to bring about a change of heart in each and every one of you through every blog post. Whether my words solidified what you already believed or my words touched you in any way or maybe it was the brief light that you allowed in your door and it helped awaken you to a truth you’ve never known.

I’ll admit first hand that I had no intention or plans of going this far this year with my blog post, but as many of you can see with your own eyes, God had different plans, as always. Now my plans, after the 203rd post is to take a little break if God allows. Maybe I’ve given you all that He needed me to and will see that I’ve exerted myself to the extent that it is time for a refresher. 

The Advent season will come upon me and I’ll be on a quiet sabbatical of sorts as I pray and meditate on the season in my own way. Remember, Advent is not for Catholics only. I have my prayerful meditative month before the celebration of Christmas day as man sees it and it turns into what God wants from ME not what I want from Him or from man. 

Writing has been my lifelong journey since before I ever had the internet, a place to voice the words God places on my heart to convey to you, a people in need of an inspirational message. While families gather for Thanksgiving around their table with loved ones or alone, please know God is always in your heart to warm you this season.  

Pss. 51:12 “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”

As aromas carry through the house of turkey and pumpkin pies as we give thanks, it will ring in the season of scents with pinecones and cookies. Always remember the reason for the season. Not the manmade appointed season, the real season of the Birth of Christ we read about in our Holy Bibles. Let Jesus’ birth carry you into a New Year, a new beginning a new perspective on life and the Spirit that will follow you long after you’ve left this physical world behind.

In God’s Holy name I pray that you have a Blessed Thanksgiving and a JOYOUS Christmas. Much of my time will be spent here praising the One and only keeper of my soul. 

God Bless you all.

Pss. 66:1 “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:”

Music... Healer of the Soul

1 Chron. 15:16 “And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.”

Music… healer of the Soul

“This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.” ~ Pete Seeger

Have you ever listened to music that made you happy? Sad? Melancholy? Have you ever wondered why music does that to every single person alive on the planet, young and old? Growing up I always wanted to play an instrument but lacked any encouragement as my house was flooded with marijuana smoke (older brothers), cigarette smoke and beer cans. I feel it hindered any growth in the musical aspirations I might have had but one thing I DID have? My Holly Hobbie record player where I would sit in my room and sing my heart out listening to music of the day.

I trained my voice early on by listening to the likes of Barbara Streisand and Karen Carpenter, two of the greatest singing teachers I could ever ask for. My musical likes were influenced by my older brothers (Beatles, Clapton) not necessarily my parent's music (Sinatra, Patsy Kline) and my likes in later years would turn out to be a mix of them all. I have four brothers so the music spanned many generations from the early sixties until today where my tastes have grown like a vine climbing the tree.

It’s amazing how times have changed and technology allows you to teach yourself amazing things instrumentally. Grace Vanderwaal, twelve years old, taught herself (via YouTube) how to play the ukelele and if you don’t know who she is, now it is my turn to say, get your head out of the sand! She is the America’s Got Talent winner of one million dollars and a contract with a recording label.

As you all may or may not know, I don’t watch television so how I clicked this child from a rare visit to YouTube is beyond me but I connected with this little girl the moment I saw her cherubic face, seeing what happens when your family surrounds you with love and nurtures your blossoming talent.

I may have missed the mark on a singing and dancing career but music, was well absorbed into my soul from a very early age. I wonder if that is the reason I write poetry? Is it a form of music to my soul via words? Hmm now that’s interesting, isn’t it? 

Music whether instrumental or filled with words touches the soul! I do believe since the beginning of time a simple hum filled the humans and they had to get it out of their system so they began designing instruments. While the age of a musical instrument may be off since some believe the earth to be 6,000 years old, either way, music has been around since the beginning of time.

Biblically we know as early as the book of Genesis the singing and instruments were alive and on the scene. Imagine that, we were created to bring forth music from the very beginning, I wonder if it was the first form of medicine, psychologically speaking.

Gen. 31:27 “Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?”

1 Sam. 18:6 “And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.” 

I can honestly say that had it not been for the healing properties that music has brought to my life, I would not be the woman I am before you today. Poetry, singing and writing, (I no longer dance because of my disability) are my outlets to the musical healing, while I have SEVERAL friends who play the guitar, piano, keyboard, drums, flute, violin, and a husband who plays the sax or they are avid singers professional or otherwise. Is it coincidence that God surrounded me with this palette of friends? I don’t believe in coincidence! 

So let me tell you of healing that takes place via music. Whether praise music, hymns, rock, country, soul or jazz each avenue is an outlet if internal healing that you WILL carry with you AFTER death.

Music Divine

Divine is the dancing pirouette of sound. 

Bathing in the luminosity of space. 

A bastion of baubles blazing boldly. 

Rhythm masking in the ticker-tape of time. 

Reverberating in reverent chime. 

Compliant to the composer of conceit. 

Fastidious to the feasible feast. 

Notorious notes nourish in sync. 

Melody meets a measure combine... 

Divine is the dancing ~~ pirouette of sound!

Copyright ©joni zipp

HOPE

Job 14:7 “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.”

HOPE

I hear over and over the hope echoing in the world, behind fear there lays HOPE. The haters, the finger-pointers, the name callers (calling someone stupid, whiny, libtard is indeed name calling) are no different instilling fear and anger than anyone else out there destroying property, it’s okay because there are tons of people ready to back up your fear and enmity that you spew with PRAYER and HOPE!

I’d like to see the world bow in prayer. I have hope that the few can change the many. While I was never a part of the massive amount of animosity that people (republicans AND democrats) spewed, I sat back and took it all in and watched as the cookie crumbled, so to speak.

In the movie Oh God when Jerry (John Denver) asked why God chose him to deliver the message to the people, God replied, “why not?” People today do not want to hear that ‘God placed something on a person’s heart’ or hear them utter ‘what God has shown me’ it’s all hokey to them because God isn’t showing them personally anything and it undermines the years they’ve put into this religion and God stuff. 

It isn’t my fault I sense and see things others don’t; I didn’t create me. It IS my fault that I’m so filled with the Holy Spirit that I see hope where disaster lay. I do blame myself for bringing you a message of hope when everyone (believer and non-believer) are wallowing in an ego and arrogant display of one-upmanship in their own life. I also hear bellows of an ‘entitled generation’, to my eyes, you’re displaying the ego generation.

Luke 8:10 “And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.”

I’m not going to apologize because I don’t allow outside influences to shape my thoughts and being. My mind is shaped BY the Spirit, FOR the Spirit and my hope lies IN the Spirit!

John 12:45 “And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.”

I often wonder why I was raised in a bustling city for thirty-some-odd years (Baltimore, Maryland) only to be led to a bigger city for 6 years (Dallas, Texas) to be led out in the middle of nowhere (Nebraska) for seven years, so far. But I SEE the bigger picture, and I’m not asking you to see it. I share it with you but even then you don’t see what I’m trying to show you. Life is like that, a person comes along and tries to help you along and stubbornness and arrogance jump in, to cloud your view and all you allow is your ego to drive you into the unneeded rhetorical hate!

I AM an optimist! I like and I love. I sometimes love so much it hurts and wonder if this is the way Jesus felt. He knew God brought Him into the world, He knew God led His life from infancy, and before. There were believers following Him and non-believers slashing Him and flogging Him, but He STILL walked to the cross to be hung because He had HOPE in changing man so they could live eternally and not just rot and die. He gave us purpose although not everyone can see what purpose they have in this life.

Isa. 41:11 “Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.”

Hope is in the world today in the innocent newborn child. Hope is breathing inside a family that still connects and loves you. Hope is alive and well where LOVE is home to dwell. It isn’t a matter of who’s right and who’s wrong. It all boils down to loving your neighbor, helping a stranger, befriend man, woman, gay, straight, rich or poor. If love is not the first thing out of your mouth upon rising each day and carried with you as you scan the social media and play out your day, then YOU are the same root of the problem you point fingers at.

I myself wish I could bring the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount alive again today but we are too filled with fear and hate to see the HOPE in them! Make the Beatitudes go viral. Share this, I bet you won’t. 

Gospel of Matthew 5: 3-10
THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, 
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are they who mourn, 
for they shall be comforted. 

Blessed are the meek, 
for they shall inherit the earth. 

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 
for they shall be satisfied. 

Blessed are the merciful, 
for they shall obtain mercy. 

Blessed are the pure of heart, 
for they shall see God. 

Blessed are the peacemakers, 
for they shall be called children of God. 

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, 
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."


I will toss what I sense and see out the window like lint in the wind. I will see hope where there is none, I will wrap my heart around the joy left in the world. As I watch what is deemed the Super Moon set in the west like so many summer sunsets, the big bold orb will sleep as the sun rises in the east, there IS hope! Coming over the horizon like a mouse creeping up on cheese, the sun peeks in a slither of a cloudless sky. I’m awakened and greeted with the morn. 

May God Bless you always as you too seek out the HOPE that remains in the world!

Joel 3:16 "The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."

Poetry Sunday ~ The Voice of the People

Jer. 17:23 “But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.”

The Voice of a People

We are a divided nation separated by complexion

Giving different people their own little section

We’ve taken blood and changed the dominant hue

To suit what’s befitting in all that we do.

Changing the prism that reflects joyous light   

Cannot be undone because day turns to night

Believers are the ones who bear this burden

To stand as one as all people are hurting

Sharing the Word through love can we change

the hearts of men for hatred we’ll exchange

Caring for people as we plan to take action

The light we emit gives strength to our traction

As your soul grieves God shoulders the pain

For nations, for men, the living, the slain.

Go into the world, be the difference, the spark

Bring light to a people that dwells in the dark.

*author's note: this poem is a repost

and worth it! 

Quotation Saturday ~ More to think about

Eph. 1:4 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:”

HEALING 

“The emotion that can break your heart is sometimes the very one that heals it...” 
― Nicholas Sparks

Pain feels like a fast stab wound to the heart. But then healing feels like the wind against your face when you are spreading your wings and flying through the air! We may not have wings growing out of our backs, but healing is the closest thing that will give us that wind against our faces.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

“Each of us has a unique part to play in the healing of the world.” 
― Marianne Williamson

“Change, like healing, takes time.” 
― Veronica Roth

BULLIES

“People who love themselves, don’t hurt other people. The more we hate ourselves, the more we want others to suffer.” 
― Dan Pearce

“Haters and bullies are always cowards, you know. They like to pick on little guys.” 
― Scylar Tyberius

“They will hate you if you are beautiful. They will hate you if you are successful. They will hate you if you are right. They will hate you if you are popular. They will hate you when you get attention. They will hate you when people in their life like you. They will hate you if you worship a different version of their God. They will hate you if you are spiritual. They will hate you if you have courage. They will hate you if you have an opinion. They will hate you when people support you. They will hate you when they see you happy. Heck, they will hate you while they post prayers and religious quotes on Pinterest and Facebook. They just hate. However, remember this: They hate you because you represent something they feel they don’t have. It really isn’t about you. It is about the hatred they have for themselves. So smile today because there is something you are doing right that has a lot of people thinking about you.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

BLAME

“We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.

Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.” 
― Brené Brown

“We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who's right and who's wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and we do it with political systems, with all kinds of things that we don't like about our associates or our society. 

It is a very common, ancient, well-perfected device for trying to feel better. Blame others....Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground.” 
― Pema Chödrön

“If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness. (Monseigneur Bienvenu in _Les Miserables_)”
― Victor Hugo

MOVING ON

“It happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you've known forever don't see things the way you do. So you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.” 
― Nicholas Sparks

“Letting go means to come to the realization that some people are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.” 
― Steve Maraboli

“Moving on is easy. It's staying moved on that's trickier.” 
― Katerina Stoykova Klemer

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” 
― Lyndon B. Johnson

Quotation Saturday ~ Quotes to think about

Pss 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

CHANGE

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” 
― Leo Tolstoy

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” 
― Albert Einstein

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” 
― Mary Shelley

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” 
― Lao Tzu

ACCEPTANCE

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” 
― Alice Walker

“to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you've held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.” 
― Ellen Bass

“Hate is a lack of imagination.” 
― Graham Greene

“If God were our one and only desire we would not be so easily upset when our opinions do not find outside acceptance.” 
― Thomas à Kempis

HATE

“I have decided to stick to love...Hate is too great a burden to bear.” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” 
― James Baldwin

“Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love, they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies. (from "Loving Your Enemies")” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“When swimming in an ocean of hate, we never see ourselves as the shark.”
~ Joni Zipp

ARROGANCE

“Arrogance is someone claiming to have come to Christ, but they won't spend more than five minutes listening to your journey because they are more concerned about their own well being, rather than being a true disciple of Christ. Blessed is the person that takes the time to heal and hear another person so they can move on.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

“The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it.” 
― Criss Jami

“Arrogance is a creature. It does not have senses.
It has only a sharp tongue and the pointing finger.” 
― Toba Beta

“A prig is a fellow who is always making you a present of his opinions.” 
― George Eliot

“It may be a species of impudence to think that the way you understand God is the way God is.” 
― Joseph Campbell

DIGNITY

“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” 
― Jane Austen

“These are the few ways we can practice humility:
To speak as little as possible of one's self.
To mind one's own business.
Not to want to manage other people's affairs.
To avoid curiosity.
To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully.
To pass over the mistakes of others.
To accept insults and injuries.
To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked.
To be kind and gentle even under provocation.
Never to stand on one's dignity.
To choose always the hardest.” 
― Mother Teresa

“Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows
with the ability to say no to oneself.” 
― Abraham Joshua Heschel

“When people want to win they will go to desperate extremes. However, anyone that has already won in life has come to the conclusion that there is no game. There is nothing but learning in this life and it is the only thing we take with us to the grave—knowledge. If you only understood that concept then your heart wouldn’t break so bad. Jealousy or revenge wouldn’t be your ambition. Stepping on others to raise yourself up wouldn’t be a goal. Competition would be left on the playing field, and your freedom from what other people think about you would light the pathway out of hell.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

HOPE

“Those who make us believe that anything’s possible and fire our imagination over the long haul, are often the ones who have survived the bleakest of circumstances. The men and women who have every reason to despair, but don’t, may have the most to teach us, not only about how to hold true to our beliefs, but about how such a life can bring about seemingly impossible social change. ” 
― Paul Rogat Loeb, The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear

“Strange as it may seem, I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an interesting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.” 
― Lemony Snicket

“Hope is such a beautiful word, but it often seems very fragile. Life is still being needlessly hurt and destroyed.” 
― Michael Jackson

“Whether we wound or are wounded, the blood that flows is red.” 
― Eiichiro Oda

Pss.42:11 “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”

Job 8:13 “So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:”

BEAUTY! 11-11

1 Chron.16:29 “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

BEAUTY

Keeping to my word, I am writing about the BEAUTY I see in the world. I have to admit while everyone is happy stroking their ego’s I am content seeking beauty where there is none. 

I open my eyes in the morning and am grateful to be alive another day. I thank the Lord as I shuffle to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. It is usually after a good eight hours of sleep. Yes, I’m still young enough not to have inhibited sleeping patterns and I chalk that up to my daily prayerful meditations and the content feeling I have with MY life.

I hear people say that they’ve suffered from insomnia all of their life, or because of medications it stops them from sleeping all night, or that they take a supplement to help them sleep, or that I better enjoy sleeping all night while I’m young because the older I get the less I’ll sleep. 

I guess I see why they call it beauty sleep because of the rarity of a restful, content, full night of sleep is absolutely beautiful. Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to see the BEAUTY in a good nights rest.

After the coffee begins perking I take my dog outside for her morning business. It is usually dark and before turning the outside light on, I stare at the illuminated starlit sky and say good morning to God. I usually get a wink but it just might be my eyes adjusting to the dark after coming from the lit house. Thank you, God, for allowing me to see the BEAUTY in the early morning sky!

I gather my dog by giving a whistle and she either slowly (she’s getting old) crosses the leaf filled yard in noisy steps or makes her way around the front of the house and begins barking for entry. I let her in the house and we both meet at the pantry where her treats are stored and she stares, gratefully and eagerly; even if she’s done nothing, she knows a treat is coming! Thank you, God, for allowing me to see the BEAUTY in my dog’s smile.

I turn and go to my finely brewed coffee after listening to the final groan of percolating, I stand there, inhale the scrumptious aroma and thank God once again for technical gadgets that bring the house alive visually and aromatically. Thank you, God, for allowing me to see the BEAUTY in a well-brewed cup of coffee.

I begin shuffling across the floor with hot coffee in my hand, pause as I inhale the steam, and continue walking to my lit computer screen. “What will I write about today, God?” then I click the weather that screams in the darkness, warmth and sunshine this fine November week and again I say, thank you, God, for allowing me to see the BEAUTY in an unseasonably warm day!

To my left, the sun begins to rise in a splendid show of color, I open the bible and read, pray and meditate on the Word He has so richly filled me with since my youth. Good morning my dear friend, thank you for allowing me to see the BEAUTY in prayer and the brilliance in the sunrise. Even when it is hiding behind clouds I sense the BEAUTY and warmth that the sun lends me to start my day.

I click ‘log in’ and the beauty melts away like a wax candle placed in the center of a roaring bonfire. I pray… “Lord, help me see the beauty in the world through your eyes.” My computer crashes… I shuffle myself to the kitchen for a second cup of BEAUTY!

“Sometimes people are beautiful.

Not in looks.

Not in what they say.

Just in what they are.” 

― Markus Zusak

One Voice

Pss.1: 1-2 “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

One Voice

Well, it is done and over with, Donald Trump is the President-elect. I find it kind of funny that my Democratic friends (yes, I know who you are) and my Republican friends (I know who you are, too) all assume I voted for their candidate when I have NEVER given an inkling to who I was inclined to side with. Because I LIKE a meme on facebook, that tells you all about me? Boy, we’re in bigger trouble than I thought.

I was raised to never discuss politics or call people names just for the sake of calling names and if you look at my year of posts (facebook and my blog) I never led people to believe I was anything but a follower of Christ. I watched this year as people lost every shred of dignity. I saw friends being deleted because they weren’t in-sync with one another. I watched as the world collapsed. I don’t see hope and happiness in that.

I’m sad. I’m not sad because Hillary lost no more than am I sad because Trump won, I’m sad for MY future and the future of children who had to wake to a confusion of what commotion went on while they slept. I’m sad for the babies too small to even know anything was going on that we leave them a ruined country, one that they may or may not ever be proud to one day serve. 

I see fear. I see a people not happy with either candidate. When I voice my opinion it isn’t because I pulled it out of my hat. I SENSE that either way the vote would’ve gone it would lead to riots by the ‘thugs’ of society? Because you know, there is not one thug republican right? Both parties are a disgrace. Now maybe you’ll SEE what I sensed all along, fire, flames, burning buildings, vandalism, and destruction. Again, had the other side won, we’d see the same exact thing, that is how the entire campaign was run, on hate and dissension and this surprises you people are reacting in animosity?

I remember when I first heard that Trump was ‘thinking about running for president’, I laughed at first then said, “I bet he’d win. People are tired of politicians running.” I was laughed at as you can imagine because I have nothing political in my arsenal of word wars. Today I sit here still laughing because a Reality TV star is now our president-elect! As many of my readers might know, I’m not a television fan, I’ve never been a subscriber of cable, I’ve given up my love of football after the cold realization that I was being swindled by commercials and high paid thugs and the only television use in my house is to watch movies from either my computer or my DVD player. 

My voice doesn’t matter. No one cares what I think. They all assume to know something they know nothing of and that is ME! I’m not giving up hope. Christ is not about giving up! I will continue to stand with Christ while the people frolic in a two-faced society, one day filled with contempt for a person and the next day showing loving support. It makes absolutely no sense to me just as it didn’t when I was bullied in school.

I’m winding down my year of blog posts and I have ten more before the change for me. I honestly don’t know what will happen but I’ll embrace whatever the Lord plans for me. My next ten posts will surely be about HOPE, CHRIST, LOVE, HONOR, Thanksgiving and they will all remain my walk with God and not man!

Today I hold my head high, maintain every shred of the dignity I started the year with and walk hand-in-hand with our Mighty Savior who saw all of this coming before we did. I don’t judge you for your choices in life, please, don’t judge me for having a quiet voice amid a roaring angry crowd. I’m tired of the name-calling and the finger-pointing. What’s done is done now let us move on and a skip to my lou my darling. 

Pss. 107:8-11 “Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:

Reflecting

google image

sad tree

Isa. 40:31 "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

A Reflecting Post

I’m writing this on Monday, September 7th a day before the election that will change the world. I could already feel the rise in change at the beginning of the year and my fellow man didn’t let me down. They began the year consumed in hate and carried the angst all the way through to November and surely through December with the outcome no one will like.

I saw hypocrites crawl out of the woodwork like termites in dry-rotted wood all taking their place in the march to destroy whatever pleasantries one has known in America. I’ve been writing my heart out this year taking my stance with Christ and my love for Him, never to be swayed by the vermin of society who has taken a stance in the mire. 

Sadly, I can count on one hand the people who stayed true to their beliefs and didn’t succumb to the rallying cries of animosity. It is as if believers were on a collective conscious stream where we gathered together knowing the destruction had unfolded and they/WE were not going to be a part of it, they would fight against the flow and stand firmly with their faith!

I will add to this writing on November 9th when the shock of what the humans have done sinks in. Are they going to all stand proud? Are they going to rally together and continue with their bashing and displeasure? Are they going to boast of their love of God while raging at their brother?

My brothers and sisters in Christ, thank you for showing me that you CAN be stronger in Christ by not allowing the antagonism to wash over you and carry you into the swamp of a broken democracy, a shattered people. I am proud to call you friend as I’ve watched this entire year, as you stood separate from the indignation and finger pointers who added to the demise of our country.

My brothers and sisters, you stood tall in the face of a challenge. You brought God to the world and were messengers of the Word and never let the hate filter in. You never strayed. Yes, we may all be sinners, but God NEEDED us to be strong for HIM, and so many in the world have let Him down but you, you stood firm FOR Him. For that very reason, I know you are truly blessed and will continue to be the Light the world needs to see in this time of darkness.

Words from my dear friend, Bob Hembree, the day before Election Day 2016:

“Most of us agree social media has contributed to the ugly current of distrust toward our social institutions, the foundations of American stability. This includes legitimate news organizations, the sciences and all three branches of the government. We pick our news sources based on our prejudices, blurring the lines between fact and fiction. Lies have more weight than truth if they agree with our politics. We create enemies on impulse, decide who is a criminal, then create the crimes. When legitimate news reporting disproves these charges, they too become the criminals, the accomplice’s, the co-conspirators. When the truth no longer matters, what's left but chaos? It doesn’t matter who wins the presidency tomorrow. The damage is done. My vote is not for the individual, but for the party best able to handle damage control. We need all the sanity and empathy we can get.”

I’ve been around for quite a few elections in my life but never have I feared one the way I do this one. Will we wake and act as if this year filled with angst, destruction, and chaos never happened? I don’t think so, I think they’ll wake with the same resentment that they carried all year. Will they accept change, male or female there IS going to be change. This sentence stuck with me from Bob, “Lies have more weight than truth if they agree with our politics.”

I now wait to see what the morning after brings. 

11 9 2016 ~ Reality sets in

the morning after

I’ll have to admit first that I did not stay up and wait and see what the people had done but I rose this morning turned on my computer to see Hillary’s smiling face in the headline. Oh, it was just a split screen picture; Donald Trump was squished to the left of the box that announced we now have a reality TV star for President of the United States.

The headlines down the google page read like this:

2016 Election: Donald Trump Wins the White House in Upset NBC - News.com
Featured: Donald Trump's Stunning Upset -The Atlantic
Trending: Donald Trump wins the presidency in stunning upset over Clinton - Washington Post
Live Updating: Election Night live blog: Trump's historic upset and the last cliffhangers --The Mercury News
Republicans keep control of Congress - CNN
Allies scramble after 'huge shock' of Trump victory – Politico
Trump victory sparks angry protests across California: 'Not my president' -Los Angeles Times

And don’t even get me started on the facebook wall.

The reality of all of this is that we are not United States, we are bullies and get what we want by bullying, misleading, lies, dishonesty. The Missouri pick three (obviously fixed and nothing random about it) 666? I question everything in my world.

What was once a world power has now become the laughing stock of the world! You did it people, aren’t you happy? You kicked, you screamed, you whined, you pushed, you shoved, you lied and threw a tantrum and now you’ve gotten your way. Does it feel good? I wouldn’t know because what I feel in the pit of my stomach is not a fluffy feel good churning. 

I woke to find a different world surrounding me. I see people are in shock for what they made into a reality. I feel tremors under my feet as the earth is quaking in fear. As we reflect on the year that could’ve been, make note of the year that was because the spinning of the globe has only just begun to collapse. Hold on tight to your loved ones, ignore the reality, as many people think I do, and realize this is the new world of Reality Television and we the people are the stars. 

I Stand with Christ!

John 11:35 "Jesus wept."

To Believe or To Not Believe

Pss. 27:13” I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”

To Believe or To Not Believe

When I see this kind of rhetoric as comments across many different sites, the animosity and verbiage are the same towards Christian believer.

*not the actual screen names
nosheeplepeople says:
“You're busy playing the children's Game of Make-Believe, Christian Version, that even has your imaginary magical friend you call Yahweh playing your edition of the children's Game of Hide 'N Seek as a subplot in your Land of Pretend. Your Game of Make-Believe even includes a talking bush, a talking donkey, a talking serpent and a talking volcano.
The cartoons you watched with talking animals weren't true even though you believed they were true.”

And a response went like this:

Josh said:
If your perspective of my trust in God is nothing to you, why are you getting so worked up about it? If I simply believed that the world was made out of jello, you wouldn't give a second thought to my belief, and you'd go on about your day on to things that actually mattered, but that is not the case here, your soul is so disturbed by my trust in an all powerful Creator, that you must put in your efforts and attempts to make the disturbance in your soul, a part of my reality. I could dismiss your attempts as imaginary, and make believe, but then I'd be suppressing the subjective evidence of your existence, much like you do with the reality of God's existence.

This response was not liked by the sheeple so he tried to one up Josh by saying,

Sheeple said:
“Christians have been sold an invisible product that has an invisible cure for an invisible disease that harms an invisible soul so that the invisible soul can go to an unseen place that is invisible until they die based on a guilt trip their Pastor told them that they should have.”

Josh replied:
You know, it's funny that I address the objections or points that you make. But legit answers that I give, and points and objections to your objections that I make, never seem to be addressed. They are ignored, repressed, and then it’s on to your next objection. What is the point of trying to give an answer to your objections, when you never take them into consideration in our dialogue here? You’re not seeking the truth, you’re seeking to establish your own agenda. May God bless you, have a nice day :)

Pss 78:22 “Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:”

I have to say, Josh had a good debate going and that his words were sound. But the sheeple guy sounded like a broken robot that I’ve heard in Yahoo comments, YouTube comments and anyplace the very word God is uttered; my God is fake and they (atheist) have no God. Sheeple continued to have this same conversation with himself.

The comments went on and on and on. I’m so used to this kind of hate towards Christians because that is what satan has himself formed out of the world. No, he didn’t magically create anything, satan has a tendency to work through the mind to bend whatever truth you may hold.

I have come to find that satan is working in EVERY faith and religion to distort and turn your thoughts away from the Creator. He puts these doubts in your mind and they fester until you are turned against God and you know what, God is okay with that because the non-believers need to be weeded out anyway. 

I’m okay with people NOT believing but don’t judge me and call my God a fairytale because of a book you might have read and not believed. If billions of people are wrong, then so be it, I’m one among many. I’m going to dissect what the sheeple wrote.

“Christians have been sold an invisible product [is he calling God a product? Sorry sheeple, God is a spiritual entity.] that has an invisible cure [cure? Where, I need one pronto!] for an invisible disease [I wish my disability was invisible!] that harms an invisible soul [I actually KNOW I have a soul because every word this person said touched me. Having never been touched, sheeple does not have a soul and if he does it is a lonely and empty one] so that the invisible soul can go to an unseen place [unseen place? Sorry buddy, I’ve SEEN heaven and tasted it and that is why I long to be there!] that is invisible until they die [not true] based on a guilt trip their Pastor told them that they should have.” [Umm, this person must’ve really been hurt by the church and a pastor because he was well versed in my Bible, KJV, but to think that everyone finds God via a church or a pastor is illogical. Did he ever think that God finds YOU? Not always the other way around?

God made His presence known to me at around age three and then I looked for Him everywhere I went as I aged. Sometimes God finds you, some people are taught about God, some are raised on the bible and attended church regularly since grade school and yes they were allowed to experience Him for themselves and make their OWN judgment call on whether to believe or not to believe. My invisible God placed within me FREE WILL to believe or not believe what I want, also! 

To the atheist, God can be explained away by scientific answers to everything that exists but to me, a believer, if God didn’t exist neither would science/scientists! You can’t have one without the other. Now my faith is invisible, the only way you see my faith is by what I project to the world. You either see it or you don’t. You have the free will to believe or to not believe. 

Prov. 14:15 “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.”

Oh God (the movie)

1 John 1:5 "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

Oh God

The other night we watched the movie ‘Oh God’, I’d say a classic from 1977. I didn’t realize how poignant it was until viewing it as an adult who happens to love all things, God. 

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Carl Reiner directed this sweet comedy about the Man Upstairs visiting Earth in the form of a funny little guy (George Burns). John Denver is the good man chosen to be God's contact in the modern age--and like an Old Testament prophet, Denver's character pays the price by being ridiculed and faced with criminal charges. Denver is a warm presence, but the film is entirely in Burns's court. Reiner feeds him lines that come out of Burns' mouth like stage patter, and it's no wonder he got a huge career boost from this film in the winter of his life. Except for some courtroom stuff in the third act--where Reiner inadvertently cheapens the movie with editing tricks to suggest "miracles"--Oh, God! is just fine. (It's certainly better than its two perfunctory sequels, Oh God! Book II and Oh God! You Devil.) 
--Tom Keogh

A few quotes from the movie:

God: "Did Man fall from grace in the Garden of Eden?" I'll tell you something never came out. I made Adam 17. Eve was 15, 16 tops. I figured then 16, 17 was middle age, you know. Who knew people would live so long? Trees I figured had the best chance. Now I realize that they were kids, babies. Young people can't fall from my grace. They're my best things.

God: I know how hard it is in these times to have faith. But maybe if you could have the faith to start with, maybe the times would change. You could change them. Think about it. Try. And try not to hurt each other. There's been enough of that. It really gets in the way. I'm a God of very few words and Jerry's already given you mine. However hopeless, helpless, mixed up and scary it all gets, it can work. If you find it hard to believe in me, maybe it would help you to know that I believe in you.

Jerry Landers: How can you permit all the suffering that goes on the world?
God: Ah, how can I permit the suffering?
Jerry Landers: Yes!
God: I don't permit the suffering. You do. Free will. All the choices are yours.
Jerry Landers: Choices? What choices?
God: You can love each other, cherish and nurture each other or you can kill each other. Incidentally, "kill" is the word. It's not "waste." If I had wanted "waste" I would have written, "thou shalt not waste." You're doing some very funny things with words. You're also turning the sky into mud. I look down, I can't believe the filth. Using the rivers for toilets, poisoning my fishes. You want a miracle? *You* make a fish from scratch. You can't. You think only God can make a tree? Try coming up with a mackerel. And when the last one's gone, that'll be that. Eighty-six on the fish, goodbye sky, so long world, over and out.

Jerry Landers: I don't even go to any church!
God: Neither do I.

God: Why is it so hard for you to believe? Is my physical existence any more improbable than your own? What about all that hoo-ha with the devil a while ago from that movie? Nobody had any problem believing that the devil took over and existed in a little girl. All she had to do was wet the rug, throw up some pea soup and everybody believed. The devil you could believe, but not God? I work in my own way. I don't, I don't get inside little children; they got enough to do just being themselves. Also, I'm not about to go around to every person in the world and say, 'Look it's me, I wanna talk to you.' So I picked one man. One very good man. I told him God lives. I live. He had trouble believing too, in the beginning. I understood. I'm not sure how this whole miracle business started, the idea that anything connected with me has to be a miracle. Personally, I'm sorry that it did. Makes the distance between us even greater. But if a miracle helps you believe that I am who I say I am... I'll give you one. A good one.

God: The last miracle I did was the 1969 Mets. Before that, I think you have to go back to the Red Sea.

God: [Reading questionnaire] Which of the world's religions is closest to the divine truth?
[to Jerry]
God: The divine truth is not in a building or a book or a story. Put down the heart is the temple where all truth resides.

When Jerry Landers asks God why he won't work some magic and solve all the world's problems God responds, "I gave you a world and everything in it." So Landers says "But we need help!" To which God replies, "That's why I gave you each other."

*** ~~~ ***

This movie is profound on so many levels. We recently watched it and I remember the movie from when I was a kid but it never touched me the way it does watching it as an adult God lover. When Jerry ask God if he’ll come again so they can talk, tears formed in my eyes when the response was, “How about this, you talk and I’ll listen.”

People never feel like God is listening but He is, it’s just people are so caught up in the mundane they don’t have time to listen for an answer and I can rest assure you, He DOES answer. God IS alive! God loves us. I think He’d be much happier if we took responsibility for our actions instead of waited on ‘some guy in the sky’ to whisk in from the clouds and save our sorry tails.

Such a simple plot with such valid answers. Where has this movie in all of its original splendor been hiding? I personally feel that if everyone watched it today with new eyes like I did they’d see the movie in a different light and might, just might start trusting in themselves AND God again. 

To watch this movie you don’t have to be religious, believe in God, or even care if He exists, it’s just a lighthearted movie of its time that isn’t offensive in any way. You know one of those rare movies that aren’t slutified by the times; it’s just a pure wholesome movie for a world that is on its last leg of existence.

John Denver, in his only acting role, plays Jerry a simple honest man (another rarity this day and age) who’s faced with the fact that God chose HIM to carry a message. Funny thing is, God has asked us ALL to carry His message but I see not too many up to the task of doing such a simple job. Watch the movie again…you’ll be glad you did.