Anything With Nothing

A quote to share ....

"We, the unwilling, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have been doing so much with so little for so long that we are now qualified to do anything with nothing."

- Mother Teresa

Makes sense!

This morning I came across these verses .... I just found it interesting ... and very cool ...

Isaiah 61: 1-3 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the years of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

And this story... At the Royal Palace of Tehran in Iran, you can see one of the most beautiful mosaics in the world. The ceilings and the walls flash like diamonds in multifaceted reflections.

Originally, when the palace was designed, the artist specified huge sheets of mirrors on the walls. When the first shipment arrived from Paris, they found to their horror that the mirrors were shattered. The contractor threw them in the trash and brought the sad news to the architect.

Amazingly, the architect ordered all the broken pieces collected, then smashed them into tiny pieces and glued into the walls to become a mosaic of silvery, shimmering, and mirrored bits of glass.

Broken to become beautiful. It's possible to turn your scars into stars. It is possible to be better because of the brokenness.

If human hands can create something breathtaking, even in the midst of disappointment and brokenness, how much more can God, the Creator and Restorer?

This is a super overwhelming thought, don’t you think?

A Facebook Haggadah

How the Exodus looks on Facebook .....

"The Passover Seder, the oldest continuously observed religious ceremony in the world, tells the story of the Jews' Exodus from Egypt. Jewish tradition says that people of each generation must imagine that they personally had departed from Egypt, and the sages say that each generation must tell the story in its own terms.The sages probably did not intend this."

Click here: Moses is Departing Egypt: A Facebook Haggadah


Wow! I agree! "The Sages probably did not intend this!"lol Looking forward to the Twitter edition next year!

Mel ~ King of Salem

Just a few thoughts on a kinda obscure subject.

Not much is really known about Melchizedek although he is a major figure in the history of Israel and the church. Hebrews devotes a lot of chapter 7 to him. He is first met in the Bible when Abraham is returning after battle, exhausted, and extremely aware that he ticked off four of the most powerful kings of his day. And the story goes as Abraham was returning, "Melchizedek, King of Salem, brings out bread and wine and blesses him." Hebrews 7:7 says, "Without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater."

But who is this guy you know? He is the King of Salem (ancient Jerusalem) and a "priest of God most high," who fed and blessed Abraham. Non Biblical sources say he was anything from an angel to just a man so righteous he was made a priest. In Psalm 110 David saw Mel as a type of the promised Messiah who would establish a new order of King priests. Hebrews 7 takes it farther says that Mel was like Jesus, whose title is "king of righteousness" and "king of peace," who appears in scripture without beginning or end to life and remains a "priest forever." So Melchizedek was a picture of Jesus, but probably also just a man ...

I want to focus on what Mel did with Abraham for a minute though. This priest was out and about, not holed away somewhere. He went out looking for those who have been through some stuff, tired, weary, maybe disillusioned ... Instead of trying to "fix" the problem, and he probably really wanted to, he cared for Abraham and Co., and listened to them. He came out with bread, wine and a blessing. The bread offers endurance and strength. The wine gladdens the heart, i.e., cheers them up. The blessing ... A definition of "to bless" is: "to bestow something that promotes or contributes to another's well being, happiness and prosperity." Interestedly the root of the Hebrew word is "to kneel."

We cannot undo the circumstances of another's journey, or take away its pain. But we can help them out in real ways and point them to the One who is the source of all blessings. We may not be able to show another the way, but we can reflect and show them Jesus. And bless them good ...

Tim

Numbers 6:

22-23 God spoke to Moses: "Tell Aaron and his sons, This is how you are to bless the People of Israel. Say to them,

24 God bless you and keep you,

25 God smile on you and gift you,

26 God look you full in the face and make you prosper. 27 In so doing, they will place my name on the People of Israel— I will confirm it by blessing them."

~The Message

Prayer of Clement XI

Pope Clement XI is probably best known for reforming the religious calendar and established a set method to determine the date for Easter. Of course this "set method" continues to defy me and I think Easter comes at a strange day every year. Be that as it may ... Here I offer a prayer attributed to him that I think is wonderful and I can only give a hearty Amen to!

A Universal Prayer

(attributed to Clement XI)

Lord, I believe in you — increase my faith.

I trust in you — strengthen my trust.

I love you — let me love you more and more.

I am sorry for my sins — deepen my sorrow.

I worship you as my first beginning,

I long for you as my last end,

I praise you as my constant helper,

and call on you as my loving protector.

Guide me by your wisdom,

correct me with your justice,

comfort me with your mercy,

protect me with your power.

I offer you, Lord, my thoughts — to be fixed on you;

my words — to have you for their theme;

my actions — to reflect my love for you;

my sufferings — to be endured for your greater glory.

I want to do what you ask of me

— in the way you ask,

— for as long as you ask,

— because you ask it.

Lord, enlighten my understanding,

strengthen my will,

purify my heart,

and make me holy.

Help me to repent of my past sins

and to resist temptation in the future.

Help me rise above my human weaknesses

and to grow stronger as a Christian.

Let me love you,

my Lord and my God, a

nd see myself as I really am — a pilgrim in this world,

a Christian called to respect and to love all whose lives I touch,

those in authority over me or those under my authority,

my friends and my enemies.

Help me to conquer anger with gentleness,

greed with generosity,

apathy by fervor.

Help me to forget myself

and reach out to others.

Make me prudent in planning,

courageous in taking risks.

Make me patient in suffering,

unassuming in prosperity.

Keep me, Lord, attentive at prayer,

temperate in food and drink,

diligent in my work,

firm in my good intentions.

Let my conscience be clear,

my conduct without fault,

my speech blameless,

and my life well-ordered.

Teach me to realize that this world is passing,

that my true future is the happiness of heaven,

that life on earth is short,

and the life to come eternal.

Help me prepare for death with a proper fear of judgment,

and a greater trust in your goodness.

Lead me safely through death to the endless joy of heaven.

Grant this through Christ our Lord.

Amen

Have a blessed day everyone!

Difficult to be Simple

“How difficult it is to be simple”

~ Vincent Van Gogh

Wow! How true is that!?

http://bleuzcattstudio.com/ocean_ruminations

a strange toast indeed!

Ruth 4:11-12 "... We are witnesses! May the Lord make the woman who is now coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended! ...And may the Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Jacob."

What a really strange thing to say when one looks at it! Did the Elder really want Ruth to be barren like Rachel, or unloved like Leah was? Then in v12, it gets more bizarre, for did the Elder want Ruth to do a Tamar number and disguise Herself as a prostitute and bear a child by her father-in-law? This seems like at first glance like its saying, "I was your marriage was messed up so that you can do the good that only comes through hard times."

So why would this toast possibly be thought of as good? There can be a big obstacle to relating to God. There seems to be no higher goal really than feeling better now ~ the Bible calls this "the flesh." But the problem is that a lot of the times "Gods best" looks far different from we want it to. Could it be that the Elders prayer is for brokenness, the power to trust God no matter what? We pray often for God to maker things better, I know I do, and then things often stay the same ... then we take things into our own hands... We want things to improve! Fixed! Like now ...!

I think it goes like this ... Its like the Elder told Boaz, "You married a lovely, beautiful woman, and I want the best. But if the unthinkable happens and Ruth turns out to be conniving as Rachel or insecure as Leah, God will still being at work to bring about the good He intended." This is a very freeing thing to ponder upon! I know for myself that having ones dreams smashed around a bit may be God's best after all. The broken dreams are actually just pieces in a bigger puzzle to help us get to the bigger dreams, not really dreamed up yet. The desire for feeling good now may be a limit on us to really fly later!

Just some thoughts ...