Something a little light-hearted!

Remember: A merry heart doeth GOOD, like a medicine! So click on this link, and laugh your heart healthy! :D It's so fun!

Don't Live a Garbage Truck Life!

Good morning! A dear new friend sent this to me today, after receiving what I had to say in the Heavenly Perspective Good News email (went as a 5-day devotional; please let me know if you'd like to receive it!). I love it - it's SO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you enjoy this thought, and let me know if it has an impact on your day. :) I love you, dear friend!!!

Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.

Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, say a prayer for them and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so . . . love the people who treat you right. Forgive the ones who don't. We're not always responsible for everything that happens to us, but we are responsible for how we react to what happens. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a wonderful, garbage-free day!

What's your duck?

A dear friend sent me this last week, and I've been wanting to post it. So, here it is. :) Be blessed, my dear friend, and consider what your duck might be!

Here’s a great story by Richard Hoeffer:

A little boy visiting his grandparents was given his first slingshot.
He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target. He went back to
Grandma’s back yard, where he spied her pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let
fly. The stone hit. The duck fell dead. The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the dead
duck in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all,
but she said nothing.

After lunch that day, Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.” But Sally said,
“Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you, Johnny?”

And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck!”

So Johnny did the dishes.

Later Grandpa asked if anyone wanted to go fishing. Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I
need Sally to help make supper.” Sally smiled and said, “That’s all taken care of. Johnny
wants to do it.”

Again she whispered, “Remember the duck!”

Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing.

Several days went like this: Johnny was doing both his chores and Sally’s. Finally he
couldn’t stand it. He confessed to Grandma that he had killed the duck.
“I know, Johnny,” Grandma said, giving him a hug. “I was standing at the window and
saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I wondered how long you
would let Sally hold it over you.”

The question is: What’s your duck?

What if...?

Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.

How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

~~2 Cor. 5:14-21, MSG

Good morning, dear friend!! How are you today??? I don't know about you, but even when I'm not working, my weekends are jam-packed!!!

I want to share with you today a thought that was planted in my head and heart at church Wednesday.

What if we lived our lives like we BELIEVED that God ordained every step we took? What if we treated each contact we had with another person during the day as if it was a divine appointment?

We are called to share the message of RECONCILIATION with the world! God sent His only Son to die that we might be reconciled with Him - and that's the message we're to share with the world!

Now, before I can go any further, I have to plead: If you have ANYTHING you're holding against another brother or sister, take care of business! How can we spread the Gospel of reconciliation if we can't be reconciled in His body???

Here's the definition of this word:

1a: to restore to friendship or harmony

b: settle, resolve

2: to make consistent or congruous

3: to cause to submit to or accept something unpleasant

4 a: to check (a financial account) against another for accuracy

b: to account for

Please note that to be reconciled with someone does not mean that the relationship has to pick right up where it left off. Dear ones, many of you know the pain I went through last year with being told to leave our church. I still wish for reconciliation with a certain person, but there are two things that are true:

1. (Thanks, Amy, for helping me grab this one!!) I cannot FORCE the other person to desire to be reconciled to me. I can give all sorts of reasons why it should happen, but the fact is, I cannot change this person's heart.

2. Even if we are reconciled, the relationship will not be as it was. Between lessons learned and hearts' desires changing, things will be different.

But the fact remains that reconciliation means to restore to harmony. God is our God; we are to love as He loved us. If we can't be reconciled in Him, how can we expect the world to want reconciliation at all?

So. What if each person we met today was given a smile? A show of God's love? His mercy and grace? What if we each resolved to be a "peculiar people", not like everyone else, but to die to what our selfish nature wants and let God shine through?

Let me know your thoughts, dear ones!!! You have all been through a lot lately; you've also walked beside me while I have gone through some things. But in all and through all, GOD IS GOOD. He has our BEST in mind. How can we not bless His name today!?!?! :)

Sharing with you!

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. ~ Philemon 1:7

Good afternoon, dear friends! The above photos are several years old, but they all show a little bit of who I am. Daughter, friend, wife, aunt, stepmom - we all wear SO many different hats during the same day!

This email was sent to me several weeks ago by a dear friend. It touches me in a different way every time I read it. I hope it awakens something in you!

Quilt of Holes
Author: Unknown

As I faced my Maker at the last judgment, I knelt

before the Lord along with all the other souls.

Before each of us laid our lives like the squares

of a quilt in many piles; an angel sat before each of us sewing our

quilt squares together into a tapestry that is our life.

But as my angel took each piece of cloth off the

pile, I noticed how ragged and empty each of my squares was.

They were filled with giant holes.

Each square was labeled with a part of my life that had

been difficult, the challenges and temptations I was faced with in

everyday life.

I saw hardships that I endured, which were the largest holes of all.

I glanced around me.

Nobody else had such squares.

Other than a tiny hole here and there, the other tapestries were filled

with rich color and the bright hues of worldly fortune.

I gazed upon my own life and was disheartened.

My angel was sewing the ragged pieces of cloth together,

threadbare and empty, like binding air.

Finally the time came when each life was to be displayed, held up to the the scrutiny of truth.

The others rose; each in turn, holding up their tapestries.

So filled their lives had been.

My angel looked upon me, and nodded for me to rise.

My gaze dropped to the ground in shame.

I hadn't had all the earthly fortunes.

I had love in my life, and laughter.

But there had also been trials of illness, and wealth,

and false accusations that took from me my world, as I knew it.

I had to start over many times.

I often struggled with the temptation to quit,

only to somehow muster the strength to pick up and begin again.

I spent many nights on my knees in prayer, asking for help and guidance in my life.

I had often been held up to ridicule,

which I endured painfully,

each time offering it up to the Father in hopes that I would not melt within my skin

beneath the judgmental gaze ofthose who unfairly judged me.

And now, I had to face the truth.

My life was what it was, and I had to accept it for what it was.

I rose and slowly lifted the combined squares of my life to the light.

An awe-filled gasp filled the air. I gazed around me,

at the others who stared at me with wide eyes.

Then, I looked upon the tapestry before me.

Light flooded the many holes, creating an image, the face of Christ.

Then our Lord stood before me, with warmth and love in His eyes.

He said, "Every timeyou gave over your life to Me, it became My life,

My hardships, and My struggles.

Each point of light in your life is when you stepped aside and let Me shine through, until there was more of Me than there was of you."

May all our quilts be threadbare and worn, allowingChrist to shine through!