restore moment

RESTORE US LORD

Once we prayed knowing our help came from You

Once we defied injustice knowing that you were on our side

Once we prayed all night til our help came

Once we apologized for calling someone a fool

Once we believed it was important to please you

Restore us as people who follow God even when no one is looking

Restore us Lord

Kwasi I. Kena

salt moments

We moved this past summer, away from the hum of traffic, next to the peace of the woods. Now that winter has arrived, our horizon has changed from bricks and mortar to snow laden trees, colourful birds, quiet foxes and the odd hesitant deer. In order to entice the deer to come around more often my husband bought a salt block and placed it on the small patio across the stream amongst the trees. I was looking at it the other day and noted that the snow had melted in a perfect circle all around this block of salt. I also noted its label which stated that it was pure, no additives, no contaminants, nothing that would harm the environment. It simply rests where it has been placed, quietly offering a pleasant taste, its natural ingredients exuding warmth into the cold snow............

And I thought that is how I must be...........
content to be where I am placed
offering a pleasant taste to anyone who is hungry or thirsty,
providing a natural warmth that would penetrate coldness,
clearly labelled by my life so that all could see: pure, no contaminants, nothing artificial, safe...........

no bells or whistles, no lights or drum rolls, no platform .........just quietly and naturally altering the environment around me......

salty..........

in this dry and thirsty land

face to face moment

I want

O my Beloved

at each beat of my heart

to renew my offering to You

an infinite number of times

until the shadows having disappeared

I may be able to tell You of my love

in an eternal face to face

St. Therese Lisieux

twitter moment

I simply cannot figure out

why everyone is all atwitter

about twitter

nothing will ever come close

to a face to face

that comes with a hug

seeing moments

God had brought me to my knees

and made me acknowledge my own nothingness

and out of that knowledge

I had been reborn

I was no longer the centre of my life

and therefore

I could see God in everything

Bede Griffiths

today's moment

the only way to have any impact on how we experience tomorrow

is to live our moments well today

proving moment

our very life demonstrates God or denies Him

we will manifest Him to the measure we know Him

and He will reveal Himself to the world

in the measure we depend on Him

and believe in Him

word and claims will not reveal Him
only a personal history

and a radical surrender

will prove Him to a darkening world

child moment

plucked from Scott Williams' blog ........


unless you become like a child...
8 or so months ago an older couple were having lunch at my restaurant when they happened to mention that they had inherited an orphanage in Haiti, and had no means to feed them. as we sat and talked i realized that something had to be done so i asked a couple of club members, who happened to be waiting on tables, if we should do something. we voted and adopted an orphanage. we had no committees to run it through, no old members to placate. there were no financial balance sheets to reconcile. the kids needed to eat.so i went to my little group of club members - 30 or so mostly teens and young adults and we talked about what we could do. that saturday we took an "offering" (i hate that word) and the kids got to eat for a month. within a couple of weeks we had 4 months worth of money. the giving never ended. let me assure you, i had very little to do with this. young adults signed over their whole paychecks, others gave 50% or more of their income. it was a marvel to watch.a couple months later we found out that a local pastor that had been helping 'our kids' had died falling off a roof and his body was stuck in the morgue, no money to release it for a funeral. so i told the peeps and that night, on top of the money they already shelled out, they raised $400. there was about 15 teens and young adults, and a few others, there that night.sometime later we found out that if we could somehow raise $800 bucks in 6 months the kids could have a teacher and books come in and have school. 2 or 3 weeks later we sent the money.last night a guy from haiti was here and i interviewed him. i asked him what they needed - $200 bucks for more books and approximately $300 bucks for shoes for all 30 kids. i put it out there, we have a month to raise it, and the kids ponied up $680 plus change. i couldn't get my head around it.one of the seniors who was visiting last night asked me how i could get young people to give and live so sacrificially. i simply said, "i told them if we don't give they don't eat'. i really did nothing else. they are rough and rude, loud and unpolished, authentic and sacrificial.maybe the problem with today's youth isn't that they aren't committed. maybe the problem is that we haven't given them anything of value to be committed to

ambushed moment

today I have been ambushed by longing

what if I dare to touch the place of longing and desire within me,
allow myself to really feel how deep it goes
only to discover that those desires cannot be met -
what do I do with myself then -
how will I live with desire that is awake and alive
rather than asleep and repressed
can I,
like Bartimaeus
reach deep within,
touch the place of fundamental human need
and cry out from that place -
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!
will Jesus hear above all the other voices clamoring for his attention
am I willing to embarrass those who surround me
by shouting out my honest expression of need
and thus capture Jesus' attention
will I allow His question
"what do you want me to do for you"
bring me face to face with my vulnerability,
my need,
strip away the layers of pretence and superficiality
and expose what is truest in me -
that most tender and fragile place

heal moment

it usually takes what wounded us to heal us

preach moment

be sure that you first preach by the way you live

if you do not

people will notice that you say one thing

but live otherwise

your words will bring only cynical laughter

and a derisive shake of the head

St. Charles Borromeo

present moment

discover God in the present moment

be a friend of time and of reality

crucial moment

there is that crucial moment
when everything within me seems to crumble
its desolation
causing me
to
stand
still
in a no man's land

listening moment

seeking the path
where there is no trail
to know
and be known
truly seen

facing myself
and living to tell the tale
only done
by leaning onto His breast
listening for His heart beat

until the trumpet sounds

question moment

are there times

we are afraid

to ask a question

in case

the answer

should change our lives

day after moment

blessed be the name of God forever and ever
to whom belong wisdom and might
He changes times and seasons
He removes kings and sets up kings
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to those who have understanding
He reveals deep and hidden things
He knows what is in the darkness
and the light dwells with Him
Daniel 2:19-22

leading moment

the leader is the guardian of unity
he or she must thirst for unity and work for it day and night
for this the leader must not fear conflict
but rather accept it
and strive to be an instrument of reconciliation
the leader must be in contact with all the different elements in the community
and particularly with those who are in pain
or who are angry with the community

promise moment

could it be the promised land

is less about a physical destination

or anything outward

and more about a way of life

that enables us to worship

and love God fully

fig leaf moment

is it possible

to clothe oneself

with the words

of the bible

as

a

fig

leaf

OK moment

A priest spoke to a young man with a disability who was dying of AIDS.
"Mike, are you OK?"
he asked.
Mike in turn asked the priest,
"Does God love me?"
The priest said,
"I'm convinced that God has always loved you and loves you very much today."
Mike then asked,
"Do you love me?"
The priest answered,
"I really do, Mike."
Spreading his arms to embrace the priest, Mike said,
"Then I'm perfectly OK