I love to shop, magazines, stores, or online. It is urged on by my mood. I have recently had an awakening after emptying cabinets and closets. I have too much stuff and a lot of clutter to clean out. Clutter and stuff, stuff, and more stuff. It was so pretty on the store shelf, or it was my mother's vase or her mother's, or the shell I found on the beach the day my camera washed away while I was picking up shells, and so on and so on. I have placed value on things that are not important and it is time to clean out a lot more than my closets. There's only one way to begin and that is to go straight to the only one who can help me resist temptation.
Heavenly Father,
Deliver me. Lead me not into temptation. Not is the key word, NO. Teach me how to see more clearly with new eyes, dear Lord, those things which I do not need. Help me to see the need of others instead of the desires of my selfish self. Remind me of the dresses still hanging in the closet and the multitude of clothes I recently gave to Charity, that I need nothing more, that you will not let me die of cold, or from the lack of knick knacks. You, dear Lord, give me all that I need. Lead me NOT into temptation.
Amen
Monday, April 7, 2014
Hell
I can hear her now (she is my mother) "Now you've done it! You're going to Hell in a handbasket!" When I've done something stupid or should I say sinful? I think of her, reminding me that I'm on my way straight to Hell unless I do something quickly to reverse my actions. Its been several months now since she died, leaving me with all the quips and words of advice that I so much dreaded as a child but came to find endearing as an adult, except for when it came to the subject of Heaven or Hell. Mother believed she had a special talent in knowing who was facing eternal damnation and who was saved. We called it the "Daily Proclamation". As she grew older, she mellowed and it seemed to me that fewer people were facing the gates of Hell.
Regardless, Hell was a subject to be pondered in my lifetime, since I heard so much about it. I began to think at one time of all the chores I would have to tend to if I were stuck in Hell for eternity and the worst ones were doing the dishes. scrubbing floors and folding clothes. I know now that Hell is simply about being removed from Heaven for eternity, being thrown out, not having the reservation, the ticket, the pass. I want the reservation.
When my life changed, and it did; when I reached out for help to find the purpose of this life of mine, I talked to several of my truly Christian friends, one being Priscilla Harper. God must have let her know I was calling, because she was there and prepared for me and all of my questions. "Do you have a reservation?" she asked.
I travel a lot, "to where?" "To Heaven." Its a different way of asking someone "Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ his Son, our Lord".
I never thought about it like that. "I'll let you know when I get one", was all I could honestly say. This conversation began my conversion. "Yes!" I can say now, "I have a reservation!" and I am
not going or ever going to Hell especially in a handbasket.
Lord God. Thank you for friends who love me and who have helped me to become a better me, for a mother who kept Heaven and Hell in the forefront of daily life, whether or better or for worse. Lord, you have given me free will to choose between you or the lack of you in my life. I choose you, freely and with all that it takes to be one of your followers. Help me each and every second to be what you want me to be.
Regardless, Hell was a subject to be pondered in my lifetime, since I heard so much about it. I began to think at one time of all the chores I would have to tend to if I were stuck in Hell for eternity and the worst ones were doing the dishes. scrubbing floors and folding clothes. I know now that Hell is simply about being removed from Heaven for eternity, being thrown out, not having the reservation, the ticket, the pass. I want the reservation.
When my life changed, and it did; when I reached out for help to find the purpose of this life of mine, I talked to several of my truly Christian friends, one being Priscilla Harper. God must have let her know I was calling, because she was there and prepared for me and all of my questions. "Do you have a reservation?" she asked.
I travel a lot, "to where?" "To Heaven." Its a different way of asking someone "Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ his Son, our Lord".
I never thought about it like that. "I'll let you know when I get one", was all I could honestly say. This conversation began my conversion. "Yes!" I can say now, "I have a reservation!" and I am
not going or ever going to Hell especially in a handbasket.
Lord God. Thank you for friends who love me and who have helped me to become a better me, for a mother who kept Heaven and Hell in the forefront of daily life, whether or better or for worse. Lord, you have given me free will to choose between you or the lack of you in my life. I choose you, freely and with all that it takes to be one of your followers. Help me each and every second to be what you want me to be.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Faith in Hope
The weather alert alarm on my smart phone has let me know that bad weather is approaching, storms are close enough sound the city warning sirens. The last of the daytime has turned to night but I am safe, and feel secure. Were I still a small girl in our house down the road, where I grew up, the whole family would be under the dining room table with pillows in our hands and instructions to place them on our heads when the windows start breaking and glass blows toward us. Thankfully, that never happened, but I was assured by our mother that once again we had dodged a bullet that was bound to hit the target, our house, at sometime or another. The house still stands, dodging bullets once again this day.
This alert brings to mind the Sermon of this day delivered in Trinity Episcopal Church by the Bishop of Illinois, the Reverend Daniel Martin. He spoke also of being prepared, not for the next hail storm or tornado but for our death. No one likes to be reminded of their own mortality. It is not a sweet and feel good subject. It is also a subject that I avoided for 60 years of my life.
Death and dying. In our small town of Yazoo City, Mississippi, those words mean Glenwood Cemetary, the place where people are dying to get in.
The subject of death was enough to make me leave the room, as Snagglepuss said "Exit, stage left!" which means, get out as fast as possible. The thought of death was enough to put me into a state (not as in Mississippi), as in mental anguish, for weeks. I was scared to death of even the thought of death. Until now.
My security is not in the pillow under the table anymore, it comes from a higher power that assures me that no matter what happens, I will always have life. Whatever the storm is that looms, there is peace in my heart and in my soul and in my mind because I have faith. I know that no matter how bad the storms of life are, nothing can take God's promise from me. He has saved me, thrown down a life line from Heaven!
My heavenly father, I thank you for saving me from the storms that rage and will rage in my life. I pray for those who are afraid, who need the shelter of your arms and your comfort. I am humbled and thankful, Lord God. Amen.
This alert brings to mind the Sermon of this day delivered in Trinity Episcopal Church by the Bishop of Illinois, the Reverend Daniel Martin. He spoke also of being prepared, not for the next hail storm or tornado but for our death. No one likes to be reminded of their own mortality. It is not a sweet and feel good subject. It is also a subject that I avoided for 60 years of my life.
Death and dying. In our small town of Yazoo City, Mississippi, those words mean Glenwood Cemetary, the place where people are dying to get in.
The subject of death was enough to make me leave the room, as Snagglepuss said "Exit, stage left!" which means, get out as fast as possible. The thought of death was enough to put me into a state (not as in Mississippi), as in mental anguish, for weeks. I was scared to death of even the thought of death. Until now.
My security is not in the pillow under the table anymore, it comes from a higher power that assures me that no matter what happens, I will always have life. Whatever the storm is that looms, there is peace in my heart and in my soul and in my mind because I have faith. I know that no matter how bad the storms of life are, nothing can take God's promise from me. He has saved me, thrown down a life line from Heaven!
My heavenly father, I thank you for saving me from the storms that rage and will rage in my life. I pray for those who are afraid, who need the shelter of your arms and your comfort. I am humbled and thankful, Lord God. Amen.
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