Prayer Life

I read this early this morning...after spending almost all night in prayer. I love how God is so personal ... He is not "way out there". He is as close as the mention of His name.

This week's promise: Our prayers bring us into God's presence.

How is your prayer life?

The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him sincerely. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them.
Psalm 145:17-19 NLT

Then Saul said, "Let's chase the Philistines all night and destroy every last one of them." His men replied, "We'll do whatever you think is best." But the priest said, "Let's ask God first."
1 Samuel 14:36NLT

The next morning Jesus awoke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray.
Mark 1:35 NLT

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT

About this week's promise

The most universally practiced yet least understood of human experiences, prayer is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith. Its simplest definition is communication with God. Yet so often we approach prayer like a one-way telephone conversation, forgetting that God also wants to speak to us. Prayer appears nearly on every page of the Bible as the very essence of a faith relationship with the living God.
From the TouchPoint Bible (Tyndale House) p 1246

Spring

Recently we were driving across the prairies. I was observing all the signs of spring. In Manitoba we saw the flood waters that spread across the land, washing away roads, taking out bridges, threatening farm homes and animals. Because of the high waters, many deer were killed on the roads as they were trying to find high ground only to find more danger. We saw the Canadian geese returning, nesting and swimming in frigid waters. How do they do that and keep their webbed feet from becoming frozen?

What I enjoyed the most though was watching the spring calves. They are so adorable. I watched this one little guy trying to get up. He was so wobbly. He lifted his hind end, splayed his hind holves apart and then proceeded to life his head. He tried to unravel his front legs but did a face plant. Did he give up? No he tried again. His right leg got planted and then his left leg shakely spread at a triangle, he pushed and pulled till he had himself up. All four legs started to wobble and I thought he was going to go down again. He did stay up and then he tried to walk. That was so funny. We have 2 feet to co-ordinate but he has four. He had to figure out how to move 2 at once and then the other 2. Cows walk by moving one right leg and one left leg at the same time. Now how do they figure that out? It was so fun to watch.

We watched flocks of birds returning. I saw this one little fellow carrying a twig bigger than himself as he worked hard to build his new home. How he didn't fall out of the sky amazed me!

The other thing I enjoyed over the Easter weekend was the quiet of the country. O what bliss! When we live in a city, noise becomes so much a part of our lives that we don't hear it until there is absolute stillness and then we "hear" the stillness. It was heavenly.

Take time to enjoy the Spring!

Peace

"As long as our minds are stayed on our dear selves, we shall never have peace." D. L. Moody

Isn't that the truth!

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee." Isaiah 26:3

Little Things

I'm kind of into these quotable quotes right now. I love things that are said concise & to the point. Here is another quote from Mother Teresa:

"Be faithful in the small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

I read an article that talked about this. We want to give 100% not 99.9% because what if ... the surgeon didn't quite finish his surgery ... the accountant didn't balance his books ... the ship didn't stay on course (like the ferry in BC)... you get the picture......DISASTER.

That is an incredible challenge to us to stay the course...do the little things properly...and it will in the long run be to our benefit.

Happy at Work

From Mother Teresa...
"The miracle is not that we DO this work, but that we are HAPPY to do it." (emphasis mine)

I read that quote and was challenged. My list of "to do" today is always endless and sometimes things I do are not necessarily appreciated....like cleaning the toilet or dusting or balancing the books... One thing is certain...the miracle IS not that I DO this work but that I am HAPPY when it is done! I'm afraid I'm not always HAPPY doing the work but I AM happy when it is accomplished!

A Vacuum Lesson

Last night I was vacumming at the store. I had all this grit to pick up so moved the intake hose from the beater to the wand. It is one of these upright jobbers that is built for a body builder to use. It takes all my might to push the thing around! I am not a body builder!!!! Anyway I got interrupted and had to care for some customers and when I went back to vacuum, I forgot I had moved the intake hose. I started vacuuming and could not figure out why I was not picking any of the junk on the floor up. Then I realized the problem!!!!

All of a sudden I thought...how many times are there things we are doing that seem right but are so wrong. How many times do we get distracted by things in life so that we forget to correct something in our life? MMM.... just got me thinking!

Weird how a vacuum can teach you!

Green

I may be olive green but I'm also very green when it comes to figuring out some of these computer things!!!!! DUH!!!!!