11-11-11 Thankfulness and Glory

John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
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We’ve arrived at the last day of the week which is 11-11-11. A culmination of Help the Less Fortunate Week. All those ‘ones’ in the date, makes me think of the number one front and center force in my life and that is the Lord God. Throughout this week I’ve given you a window into the world in which you live and perhaps maybe sit in judgment of innocent human beings. Have you hung pretty curtains at the window, so the low-life outside doesn’t look so clear. Have you put up shades on your window so their tattered and torn smelly clothes can’t be seen or inhaled? Have you turned your nose up to the needy?

This is what you have done in the season of Thanksgiving? Shut yourself off from giving and absorbed yourself in YOU. “I have all my Christmas shopping done! Aren’t I great?” “I dropped a five dollar bill in the Salvation Army bucket, instead of my usual one dollar!” Wow, don’t you just feel so good about YOU? I have not written this week to guilt you into anything. If you can not act of your own fruition then acting at all will be futile.

I’ve helped you to open your heart and mind into the world of compassion so that maybe when you see a person in need, you won’t turn away from them, out of disgust, maybe you’ll humble your heart, and go to them and see what they need and how you can help. Maybe they just need a cup of coffee, not a whole order of food, maybe the car behind you in the Wendy’s drive-thru could use a spontaneous act of kindness, maybe an elderly person in your building, complex, neighborhood could use a visitor. Maybe someone in the hospital where you’re visiting a friend or loved one, never gets to see a friend or loved one, why not go in and say, Hello?

Instead of gossiping behind peoples back who are not as fortunate as you, why not reach out to them with an arm of compassion. Why not bend in a different direction this holiday season and better yet, why not do it year round? Why wait for the holiday to begin?

Heb 13: 1-3  Let brotherly love continue.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

As we entertain ourselves in the company of like minded people, our hearts will overflow with the compassionate nature that Jesus had intended for us. When we surround ourselves in the body of lust, greed, perversion, we get lost in the mire and can never see clearly what God has intended for us on this Earth.
 
As I sit here in farm country, watching the harvesters reap what they sow, I look out into a nation who is being swallowed by earthquakes in divers places, fires, storms, unearthly behavior. Remember, we’ll be protected, because we as Christians will see the signs and wonders and won’t be caught unaware. We’ll have our arms wide open, and ears wide shut to all the naysayers who wish to drive us away from our innocent intent, and that is to help someone in need, without once asking for praise in return. Can you do that?
 
Why a person shuns people in need, is really beyond my comprehension. How can you neglect looking out the window and not SEE what is going on around you and how can you not care unless there is something in it for YOU? Have you ever just given, to give? Have you ever went above and beyond YOU, and thought of someone else, not for gain or recognition just for the sheer warmth that it left lingering in your spirit?
 
Feel that warmth of a giving heart. It is the rainbow of God lighting your soul. Don’t deny it when it happens to you, embrace it and do something because of it.
 

May the joy, peace and compassion envelop you this glorious season. Bring a miracle to life. All you have to do is...PRAY! Godspeed my friends...

“Remember this, what you do in secret, God sees it. What you think silently, God hears it. What you post publicly, would your mother be proud to call you hers? What you think is innocent, would your Father, think so too?” Joni Zipp

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Before you act, listen.
Before you react, think.
Before you spend, earn.
Before you criticize, wait.
Before you pray, forgive.
Before you quit, try.”
~ Ernest Hemingway

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to all the veterans in

the world

I salute you.

Worthy Wednesday

Acts 5:41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
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Did you ever feel unworthy? Gosh, I’m sure almost every single one of us has at some point in our lifetime.

About seven years ago, I started taking this writing biz serious. I took a two-year course, then I joined WVU via the F2K program but there was this little worm crawling around inside of me saying, “You’re not worthy to be a writer.”

“What? Not worthy?”

Well, when someone tells me I can’t do something it only makes me strive harder. When someone utters, you’re not worthy. I kick them in the butt and send them on their way, thank you.

I’ve been a writer almost all of my young life, and I continue to reach for an obtainable goal of being the writer I always dreamed of becoming. I read something today from a fellow writer, she said, “Long after I’m gone, my words and my writing will still be alive.”

Isn’t that the truth? This is the very reason I get all the words I can out there to be seen. When someone googles, Joni Zipp, I don’t want them to find nothing of substance, I want them to get a clear picture of who I am and what legacy I choose to leave behind.

My writing is my life. Money or no money, this craft has carried me through my pain and sorrows, filtered the sunlight so my world remains bright, sheltered me from harm, and has   made something bigger than even I imagined.

In a world where get rich quick schemes thrive, an earth where we tear down instead of build up, in a conscious where the ‘me’ factor is more important than the ‘you’ factor, we lose something of genuine beauty.

I’m not here writing for me, I’m giving to you all that I am, all that I choose to be, and all of my dreams. You know what?

I AM WORTHY!