Friday, December 31, 2010

Woe is me without the Holy Spirit

Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 (AMP):      REMEMBER (earnestly) also your Creator (that you are not your own, but His property now) in the days of your youth, before the evil days come or the years draw near when you will say (of physical pleasures), I have no enjoyment in them--
    Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened (sight is impaired), and the clouds (of depression) return after the rain (of tears);
    In the day when the keepers of the house (the hands and the arms) tremble, and the strong men (the feet and the knees) bow themselves, and the grinders (the molar teeth) cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows (the eyes) are darkened;
    When the doors (the lips) are shut in the streets and the sound of the grinding (of the teeth) is low, and one rises up at the voice of a bird and the crowing of a cock, and all the daughters of music (the voice and the ear) are brought low;
    Also when (the old) are afraid of danger from that which is high, and fears are in the way, and the almond tree (their white hair) blooms, and the grasshopper (a little thing) is a burden, and desire and appetite fail, because man goes to his everlasting home and the mourners go about the streets or marketplaces.
    (Remember your Creator earnestly now) before the silver cord (of life) is snapped apart, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern (and the whole circulatory system of the blood ceases to function);
    Then shall the dust (out of which God made man's body) return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God Who gave it.
    Vapor of vapors and futility of futilities, says the Preacher. All is futility (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and transitoriness)!
    And furthermore, because the Preacher was wise, he (Solomon) still taught the people knowledge; and he pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.
    The Preacher sought acceptable words, even to write down rightly words of truth or correct sentiment.

    The words of the wise are like prodding goads, and firmly fixed (in the mind) like nails are the collected sayings which are (given as proceeding) from one Shepherd.
    But about going further (than the words given by one Shepherd), my son, be warned. Of making many books there is no end (so do not believe everything you read), and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
    All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God (revere and worship Him, knowing that He is) and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man (the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God's providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun) and the whole (duty)for every man.
    For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil. 

  These verses reveal to us a truth in regard to all  people. That truth is that youthfulness and outward beauty are temporary, while spiritual beauty and character will endure throughout one's life and continue into eternity.  Only the things that we accomplish in this life for Christ will last. Everything else is vanity. We shall all reap the fruit of the things we sow in this life.
When we are young and have our whole life ahead of us, we really do not think of the day that we will grow old and die. We do not usually consider what kind of legacy we will leave. Will it be one like the virtuous woman whose works were praised by the entire city?  These words below from Ecclesiastes remind us to remember the Lord when we are young and all through our life, as there is a day that old age will come and then we will not have the opportunity to serve the Lord like we have today. Today we can live by the Wisdom and knowledge found in the book of Proverbs and the Bible. In doing this, we shall not regret our days on the earth.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Army of One

"We must each be an army of one
in the endless struggle
between the good we are all capable of
and the evil that threatens us all
from without as well as from within.

Yes, we can each be an army of one.
One good man or one good woman
can change the world,
can push back the evil and
their work can be a beacon
for millions, for billions.

Are you that man or woman?

If so, may the Great Spirit bless you.

If not, why not?

We must each of us be that person.
That will transform the world overnight.
That would be a miracle, yes, but a miracle
within our power, our healing power."

-Leonard Peltier-

Friday, December 24, 2010

The White Ornament


A SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE
It's just a small white envelope stuck among the branches of our
Christmas tree.  No name, no identification, no inscription.  It has
peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas -- oh, not the
true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it -- the
overspending, the frantic running around at the last minute to get a
tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma -- the gifts
given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual
shirts, sweaters, ties, and so forth.  I reached for something special
just for Mike.  The inspiration came in an unusual way.  Our son
Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the
school he attended.  Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league
match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church.

These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings
seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp
contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and
sparkling new wrestling shoes.  As the match began, I was alarmed to
see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of
light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears.  It was a luxury
the ragtag team obviously could not afford.

Well, we ended up walloping them.  We took every weight class.  And as
each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his
tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn’t
acknowledge defeat.  Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, 'I
wish just one of them could have won,' he said.  'They have a lot of
potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of
them.' Mike loved kids -- all kids -- and he knew them, having coached
little league football, baseball, and lacrosse.

That's when the idea for his present came.  That afternoon, I went to
a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling
headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church.

On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside
telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me.  His
smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and the
succeeding 10 years.

For each Christmas, I followed the tradition -- one year sending a
group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another
year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to
the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.  The envelope
became the highlight of our Christmas.  It was always the last thing
opened on Christmas morning, and our children, ignoring their new
toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the
envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.

As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents,
but the envelope never lost its allure.

The story doesn't end there.  You see, we lost Mike last year due to
cancer.  When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief
that I barely got the tree up.  But Christmas Eve found me placing an
envelope on the tree, and in the morning it was joined by three more.
Each of our children, unaware to the others, had placed an
envelope on the tree for their dad.  The tradition has grown and
someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing
around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers
take down the envelope.  Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit,
will always be with us.

May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the
true Christmas spirit this year and always.

God Bless you! -- pass this along to those friends and loved ones who
you know are the givers who understand the true meaning of Christmas.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

It is on the field of adversity where the metal of a man is proven!


"I don't want to make this too serious -- we are talking about football here -- but it is a moral duty on some level to tell the truth and to take responsibility. And I won't go off too much on my values and things like that, but I believe that I'm a part of a generation, really, the Lawsuit Generation. Everything is somebody else's fault. People that are my age -- and a little younger, and a little older -- want to blame somebody else, and they tend to want to self-protect. And I really reject that as a pattern of behavior, and as a pattern of morality. It's not how I'm going to live my life. When I make a mistake, I'm going to own up to it. And really, that's kind of what all this comes down to." Hunter Smith, former punter of the Washington Redskins

I think we need 52 "teamates" like him. - Seneca Wolf

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Marriage, A Gift from God

"There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yes, four which I do not understand:
The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid." - Proverbs 30:18-19




The fourth thing that was "too wonderful" for Agur was "the way of a man with a maid." The way a man and woman are attracted to one another and "fall in love" is a very wonderful gift that God gave to men and women. Erotic and sexual love was designed by God, but has limits and boundaries attached to it. It is to only be entered into within the bonds of matrimony. The devil has come against this husband and wife relationship by perverting it and causing men to indulge in it illegally. We find adulterers, fornicators, and homosexuals, (where men are sexually attracted to men, and women to women.) God is the one who set the standard for a marriage relationship and when men start trying to redefine marriage, they are setting themselves up to take the place of God, which is idolatry. The beautiful relationship, of love and marriage, between a man and a woman, is a type of our relationship with Christ, and that is a very holy thing.
Ephesians 5:23-27:
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.