Make A Difference

Some of us have the idea that our life can't make much of a difference.

Sometimes we think, "What can one person do?"

This reminds me of the man who, when walking along the beach, kept picking up starfish that had been washed ashore. There must have been hundreds of them. One by one he picked them up and threw each back into the ocean.

A stranger watching said to the man, "Why are you doing that? There are so many starfish on the beach. What you are doing makes no difference."

"Makes a difference to that one," the man replied as he threw another starfish back into the ocean.

Robert Kennedy once said, "Many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single person. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and it was the 32-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal."

When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in a bus to a white man on December 1, 1955, she triggered the civil rights movement in the U.S.A. In so doing she played a key role that changed a nation.

You and I may not achieve such greatness but we can make a difference. We do so every time we stand up for what is right, lend a helping hand to a friend or stranger in need.

Added up, our small ripples blend together to reach ever-widening circles. In so doing, one life does make a difference and can make an impact.

Dear God,
I'm available.
Please help and use me
to make a difference in somebody's life
today.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

The Gift of an Untroubled Mind

In his book, Peace of Mind, Joshua Liebman writes of an experience he had when he was still a boy. "I made a list of the supreme goods in life," Liebman said.

"Went to a wise mentor and I showed him the list expecting to be praised for my precocity. The list went something like this … health, love, talent, riches, beauty, and faith. As I shared the list with the old wise man, he reached for a stub of a pencil, and carefully scratched through all of the things that I had listed.

He said, "Young man, you may have all of these--health, love, faith, riches, beauty -- but they will all turn out to be enemies instead of friends unless you have the one thing you missed." Then he wrote on the paper, "The gift of an untroubled mind."

From what I read and hear it appears that so many people (at least in our modern society) are plagued by depression, heartbreak, worry, anxiety, fear, and impaired relationships. And (compared to most of the world) we have just about every material benefit and human comfort we want, except so many don't have peace of mind.

There are two kinds of peace we all need in order to fully live. First, and most important of all, is spiritual peace knowing that our sins are forgiven, and we have God's promise of a home in heaven for all eternity. This gift from God is absolutely free and comes from admitting our "Tawba" - repenting to God due to performing any sins and misdeeds. It is a direct matter between a person and God, so there is no intercession.

The other kind of peace we could call emotional or relational peace. This comes from resolving any and all impaired relationships, forgiving any and all who have ever hurt us, and resolving any and all negative emotions--especially super-charged repressed negative emotions which are destroyers of both emotional and physical wellbeing and extremely destructive of personal relationships.

Dear God,
Please help me to see andresolve
anything in my life
that is causing me
to have a troubled mind.

Please fill me with your love
and help me to know and experience
your eternal peace in the very center
of my being.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

Doers and Hearers

In 1953 reporters gathered at a Chicago railway station waiting to meet the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

He was a big man, six-feet-four tall with bushy hair and a large mustache.

Reporters were excited to see him and expressed what an honor it was to meet him. Cameras were flashing, compliments were being expressed--but seeing beyond the adulation the visitor noticed an elderly Afro-American woman struggling to carry her two large suitcases.

"Excuse me," he said as he went to the aid of this woman. Picking up her cases, he escorted her to a bus and then apologized to the reporters for keeping them waiting.

The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous doctor who had invested his life helping poor and sick people in Africa.

The measure of any man or woman is not their name, their fame, nor what they say--but what they do.

Dear God,
please help me
to be a doer of your Word
and not just a hearer.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

Unexpected Strangers

Imagine you were an expert mechanic working on your car and along comes a stranger and tells you what you should do to fix it. What would you think and how would you feel? At the very least I'd question the stranger's reliability.

Unfortunately, it is true that we can't trust everybody and we need to be on our guard against deceptive and dishonest people. At the same time we never know who the stranger is that has crossed our path. He/ she may be an angel unawares. Or he/ she may be a person in need of a helping hand, an encouraging word, or just "a cup of cold water."

Dear God,
please give me
eyes to see,
ears to hear,
and a heart to sense
so that I will know
when you have sent
a 'stranger'
to minister to me
in my hour of need,
or if you have brought into my life
a person in need
of a helping hand
or a touch from you

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

Life With a Purpose

 

Motivational speaker, Mark Victor Hansen, said, "Setting goals is one of the most important things you can do to guarantee your personal, professional and financial success. Goals are like a road map to your target destination. Each goal accomplished is another mile behind you on the way to where you want to be."

Years ago I heard another speaker say, "Success is the ability to embrace a worthwhile goal and employ all of your powers for the achievement of that goal."

A life without goals is like a ship without a rudder drifting where the winds and waves of chance direct.

However, even more important than setting goals is to first discover one's God-given life purpose and then establish goals to fulfill that purpose.

As long as we live by God's laws and follow God's plan, God assures us that we will have good success.

God will do the same for you and me, too, as we live in harmony with His will and follow God's plan and purpose for our life.

Dear God,
please help me
to discover and clearly define
my God-given life purpose
and then direct me
in the setting of
worthwhile and specific goals
that, with your help and my commitment,
will assure the fulfillment of my life purpose.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

The Power of One

Did you ever stop to think how very important you are ?

Pretty much throughout ..

Whether your task is great or small, Remember, as an anonymous poet wrote:

    One song can spark a moment,
    One flower can wake the dream.
    One tree can start a forest,
    One bird can herald spring.
    One smile begins a friendship,
    One handclasp lifts a soul.
    One star can guide a ship at sea,
    One word can frame the goal.
    One vote can change a nation,
    One sunbeam lights a room.
    One candle wipes out darkness,
    One laugh will conquer gloom.
    One step must start each journey,
    One word must start each prayer.
    One hope will raise our spirits,
    One touch can show you care.
    One voice can speak with wisdom,
    One heart can know what's true.
    One life can make the difference,
    You see it's up to you!

In the words of Edward Everett Hale: "I am only one. But still I am one. I cannot do everything, But still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the Something that I can do."

Don't ever forget how very important you are, not only to your loved ones, your work, but also to God.

Dear God,
I'm available,
please use me some way
to make a difference
in someone's life today

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayers

Thinking Makes It

William James, the father of American psychology, stated that, "the greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind [your thinking]." He also said, "If you change your mind, you can change your life."

While what William James said is true, this truth wasn't discovered by his generation. Thousands years ago God's word pointed out the importance of right thinking.

It is true; we can change our lives by changing our thinking--either for good or bad. If we harbor and dwell on negative thoughts, we will act in negative ways. On the other hand, if we harbor and dwell on positive thoughts, we will act in positive ways. What we think about comes about.

As another has said, "What the mind dwells on the body acts on." Think of temptation for instance. First comes a thought and, if we entertain it, it hooks our feelings, and the stronger we feel about it, the more we keep thinking about it, and the more we rationalize about doing it … and unless we nip that thinking in the bud, we give in to the temptation and act it out.

So as an unknown author also wisely said:

Watch your thoughts; they lead to attitudes.

Watch your attitudes; they lead to words.

Watch your words; they lead to actions.

Watch your actions; they lead to habits.

Watch your habits; they form your character.

Watch your character; it determines your destiny.

Dear God
Please help me
to discipline my thought life
and learn to dwell on
'whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, and whatever is excellent or
praiseworthy.'

Thank you for hearing and answering my
prayers..

God of Second Chances

If you read this front page story in the San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, and a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the San Francisco Golden Gate bridge) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as if she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The man who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

No matter how many times we feel we've failed or blown it, God will continue to call us to Himself. However, it is much wiser to "listen up" quickly.

So, if you feel you have failed, be encouraged. Now is the time to give God a chance. "He'll mend even a broken heart if you'll give him all the pieces." God calls us all to follow Him, so why not respond to his call ? He can make a much better job of your life than you can if you will trust it to Him.

Predestination vs. Free Will

Somebody said, "The difference between predestination and free will is: "Predestination is the hand you were dealt; free will is what you do with that hand."

Good point !!!

While we weren't responsible for, nor did we have any choice in what gifts and abilities we were born with, we are totally responsible for what we do about discovering and developing these gifts and talents and for how we use them.

Furthermore, regardless of our background, which I acknowledge has a profound effect on us, with God's help and the support of encouraging friends, we can refuse to allow our past to determine our future and we can overcome much of our past, develop our talents, and become the person God wants us to be and do what we believe He wants us to do with our life.

It all boils down to choice. Either by conscious choice or by default we all choose what we want to become and do what we choose to do. As another has said, "Everyone is self made, even if the rich are the only ones who will admit it."

Dear God,
please help me
to discover
what my gifts and talents are--
both spiritual and
natural--
and develop them,
and find a productive way
to use them
for the benefit of others and for your glory.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

Changing Course?

The following was circulated in an email some time ago but has a timely message that is good to be reminded about.

As the large ship cruised ahead through the night darkness, a message from ahead was received: "Make a course adjustment to avoid a collision."

Immediately the ship responded: "I am an admiral. You make a course adjustment."

"I am a petty officer. You make a course adjustment," came the reply.

"I am an aircraft carrier. You had better turn quickly," the admiral commanded.

The petty officer responded: "I am a lighthouse. You are the one who had better turn."

God's Word is our guide through all of life, through the good days as well as through the dark nights. Every instruction is there for our protection, for our safety, for our well-being. We disregard it to our peril. Despise God's Word and find yourself in trouble. Obey it and succeed."

God's Word is the "course adjustment" lighthouse for us. If we're heading in a dangerous direction, we are the ones who need to heed the directions and change course.

Thank you God
that 'Your Word is a light unto my path.'
Give me the good sense
and the courage
to always follow in your ways
so my life will never be shipwrecked.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.

Parrot Talk

 

A man bought a parrot at an auction after some heavy bidding. "I hope this bird talks," he told the auctioneer.

"Talk," the auctioneer replied. "Who do you think has been bidding against you for the past ten minutes?"

Sad to say, we seem to be living in a day when a person's word has less and less value. Once upon a time a man's word was his bond. Not any more, I'm afraid. For many people today their word doesn't mean a thing.

We're pretty adept at parroting what we think people want to hear.

I remember one of my college professors teaching us that a person's character could be measured by what value he or she put on their word. People who don't keep their word simply cannot be trusted. This principle applies, not only to some politicians who promise anything to get votes, but also to every one of us who do not keep our promises or our word.

Fortunately, however, of one thing we can be certain, God always keeps his Word and always keeps his promises. We need to do the same! For after all, it's what we do, not what we say, that speaks the loudest of all.

Dear God,
please make me a man/woman of my word ..
so I can always be trusted to say what I
mean, mean what I say, and do what I say I will do.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz.