Wisdom & Understanding

My cactus bloomed! Well one bloom anyway. But you know that I couldn't be more happier even if it was covered in blooms. See, I have watched this cactus from its rough start from being on a clearance rack on its last leg with the Walmart compost pile being in its possible future. To be honest I didn't have much hope of it making it either, but I repotted it, put it in a sunny spot and tried not to water it too much. The rest was to just watch it acclimate to its new surroundings and respond to the love and attention it was getting. So there ya go, a BLOOM and a pretty one too! I knew that eventually it would happen. That is sort of how we are, at least I was. The Lord found me (or I found Him) when I was in a mental and emotional state of no hope, maybe hope for the compost pile of life, but that's about it. But when I finally looked up (literally...it's a long story), and surrendered my heart and life to Him, He took me in and nurtured me back to a life WITH Ho...

Early morning snow out my window... reminds me of several years ago while speaking on the phone to my friend, who was in the final stages of cancer. It was February and overnight fresh snow had fallen and left what looked like a soft cashmere blanket covering the ground.  The doctors had sent her home with little hope...and yet in her voice that cold February morning, I heard hope; not the kind that man can give you, but I heard peaceful, graceful and a calm God-given hope. After having suffered for so long in her body, her voice previously had been weakened, but that morning it was strong and confident.  This was a woman that had always given of herself so unselfishly to others and understandably could have cried out "Why me?" and yet... her statement to me that morning was "The snow outside my window is so white, just think... the Lord has taken away all my sins and washed me as clean as that snow." I will never forget her words. Only a few days before she...

"Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else." I Thessalonians 5:15  An act of kindness towards a person has lasting effects, I know because after over 20 years, I still remember when lying on a gurney in a hospital hall waiting to have some post-op tests done after having a major brain surgery; and as I waited I shivered from being cold with only the gown and a thin sheet to cover me. The attendant had walked away for something and after a while I overheard the passing staff talk about what they were having for lunch, I felt so all alone in my state...did anyone care that I was so cold? Right after that thought, one of the passing staff returned with a blanket and covered me, saying, "You looked cold." He noticed...when I thought no one cared. I cannot remember the face, but I do remember the concern in his voice and how it touched my heart...not only for the warm blanket, but that som...

"The next day John (the Baptist) seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.) John 1:29 "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Matthew 6:15 We often have an image of Jesus (Yeshua) as a soft, beautiful dove, a strong Lion and in this season as an innocent babe, but I am reminded this morning that He was thee sacrificial Lamb, He was the great sacrifice for all of our sins when He willingly allowed Himself to be stripped of all His heavenly power to suffer the penalty that paid for the debt we all owed but could never pay. I cannot fathom the depth of that kind of love. We may never be able on this earth to comprehend the magnitude of that kind of sacrifice. The power of forgiveness goes beyond my realm of reason, but that's where faith steps in... I had a conversation with my teenage granddaughter when she was visiting, we talked about the atrociti...