SO MUCH FOR FAME

SO MUCH FOR FAME

There is a story told of a singer, well known in his own locality, who on holidays with his wife and kids in another part of the country. It was raining one of the days, so the singer, his wife, and four kids went to the movies.

When they arrived there, there were about ten people in the seats. When they entered, all ten jumped to their feet and applauded loudly. The singer was thrilled to be recognized so far from home.

A man came over and shook his hand and the singer, “I’m just amazed that you should recognize me so far away form home.” ‘Recognize you?’ All I know is that the manager of the cinema said he would not show the film unless six more people turned up!’

WHY I DO WHAT I DO?

WHY I DO WHAT I DO?

A young wife was preparing to bake a ham, she took a knife and cut of a piece off each end of the ham. ‘Why did you do that?’ he asked. ‘I really don’t know’, she replied, ‘but my mother always did it.’

Some time later the young man was visiting his wife’s mother, and he remembered the incident with the ham, and his wife’s explanation for doing what she did. So he asked his wife’s mother why she cut a piece off each end of a ham, before baking. The reason was simple, ‘Because the hams sold in our local supermarket are too big for the only baking pan I have!’

v    Oh! To be reflective, to be thoughtful, and not to be afraid to stop and look at ourselves, what we do, and why we do it!

v    On occasions I can do the right thing, but not always for the right reasons.

v    Why I do something makes it wrong or right. I could visit someone in hospital because I feel sorry for him – or because I want to gloat over his helpless state!

APPRECIATING LIFE

APPRECIATING LIFE

 

There is a play called Our Town, and in it a young woman dies. As the play progresses, it happens that she is allowed by God to return to earth t re-live one day of her life. The day she chooses is her twelfth birthday.

A few hours into the day, she cries out “I can’t, I can’t go on. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another…Oh earth, you’re too beautiful for anyone to realize.” Then, with tears in her eyes she asks, “Do human beings ever realize life while they live it?” A voice answers her, ‘No. The saints and poets maybe – they do sometimes.”

v    If you really want to appreciate something have it taken away from you, and when you have lost it, have it then restored to you.

v    A tragedy of life is to reach the end and realize I never really live; I settled for existing.

v    Everybody dies, but not everybody lives.

WE ALL HAVE SOMETHING TO OFFER

WE ALL HAVE SOMETHING TO OFFER

One day a little mouse was caught by a lion. The lion was ready to swallow the tiny creature, when it cried out, “Spare me, great beast! Please don’t eat me. Someday I may be able to repay your kindness.”

The lion, taken aback let out a roar, threw back his head, and roared with laughter. However, he was so amused at the thought that a tiny mouse could help him the king of the jungle, that he freed the little animal.

Sometime later, the lion was captured by hunters. He was caught in a huge net and secured to a tree, while the hunters went to fetch a truck to carry him. Along came the tiny mouse. When he saw the lion and the predicament he was in, he began to chew at the rope. He gnawed an opening in the net, and the lion got free.

v God can use any of us.

v The least significant person in my life can help set me free from my selfishness, intolerance, judgment etc. It all depends on how I relate to them, or treat them. 

THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE

THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE

There is a legend about an African boy called Emmanuel who was always asking questions. One day he asked the question, “What language does God speak?” No one could answer him. He traveled all over his country with the same question, but still did not receive an answer.

Eventually he set off in search of the answer on other continents. For a long time he had no success. At last he came one night to a village called Bethlehem, and, as there was no room in the local inns he went outside the village in search of a shelter for the night. He came to a cave, and he saw that it was occupied by a couple and a child.

He was about to turn away when the young mother spoke, ‘Welcome Emmanuel, we’ve been expecting you.” The boy was amazed that the woman knew his name. He was even more amazed when she went to say, “For a long time you have been searching the world over to find out what language God speaks. He speaks the language of love that is expressed in sharing, understanding, mercy and total acceptance.

v    God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (Jn 3:16)

v    Love is…meeting another exactly as that person is.

GENTLENESS

GENTLENESS

In one of Aesop’s fables there’s a story about an argument between the wind and the sun as to which of them is stronger. To settle the argument they decide to test their respective strengths against a man who was wearing an overcoat. It was agreed that whichever of them compelled the man to take off his overcoat, that one was the stronger.

The wind began the test. It blew and blew, even to gale force, but the only reaction from the man was to wrap the coat tighter around him. The sun then took over. It didn’t actually do anything. It was shone in the sky and let the heat reach the man. Within minutes the man removed his coat.

v “Blessed are the meek for they shall possess the earth.” (Mt. 5:5)

v You can catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar.

- St Francis de Sales

GOOD FRIENDS

GOOD FRIENDS

Dr Joseph Matarazzo was held of the Medical Psychology Department of the University of Oregon. He would of course have been in great demand as a psychotherapist, and would have contributed a great deal to the furtherance of such science.

On one occasion however, he is quoted as saying, “That more psychotherapy is accomplished between good friends over cups of coffee at ten o’clock in the morning than all day long in doctor’s offices.’ He goes on to stress the vital importance of a good talk with a real friend, and he says that this is who is most helpful when things go wrong.

v    My friend is someone who really knows me and still loves me.

v    A problem shared is a problem halved.

HOW REAL IS IT?

HOW REAL IS IT?

One time a group of people came to Abraham Lincoln to discuss something that had been causing some trouble. Their arguments were not based on facts but on suppositions. After listening for a while, Lincoln asked, “How many legs would a sheep have if you called its tail a leg? ‘Five’ was the reply. ‘No’ said Lincoln, ‘it wouldn’t; it would only have four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it one.’

v    Many will call me ‘Lord’, says Jesus but they won’t enter the kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 7:21)

v    If I am a Christian, I don’t need to tell others – they will know it themselves.

My Message

MY MESSAGE

In Through Season of the Heart, John Powell writes, “There’s an old Christian tradition that God sends each person into this world with a special message to deliver a special song to sin for others, a special act of love to bestow”.

“No one else can speak my message, can sing my song or offer my act of love. This is my responsibility; this is entrusted to me”.

Ø     A bit frightening, isn’t it? Especially if I have to answer for how I carried out my mission.

Ø     I shall pass this way but once. Any good deed that I can do, any good word that I can say, let me do it now, let me say it now- for I shall never pass this was again.

Warts and All

WARTS AND ALL

This story is told about Oliver Cromwell. He was sitting for an artist, who was painting a full-length picture of him. When the painting was complete, Cromwell looked at it and saw that the painter had gone out of his way to make Cromwell more handsome than he actually was. For example, Cromwell had warts on his face, but the painter had opted to omit this.

Cromwell would not accept the finished product. He insisted that that the painter do one more portrait, only this time, he was ordered to paint Cromwell, “warts and all”.

ü     We don’t like the ‘warts and all’ part of who we are.

ü     We could easily prefer the painter who can make us look better than we really are.

WHEN JESUS ENTERS

WHEN JESUS ENTERS

A working man was strongly drawn toward a beautiful vase, he saw in a stall down in the town market. He bought the vase and brought it home. The vase was so beautiful that it made his front room look drab, dull, and indeed, plain ugly. So he got bright paints and transformed the whole room. He got colourful curtains to match the paint, a brightly patterned carpet and he even stripped down and varnished the furniture….  Because of the beauty of the vase, the whole room was totally transformed.

ü When Jesus enters my heart, the areas in need of attention become oh, so obvious.

ü Holiness consists in discovering that I’m a much bigger sinner than I ever thought I was! The closer I came to God, the more obvious the contrast. 

Shaped By Life

SHAPED BY LIFE

So big is a novel by Edna Ferber. In the story a young architect named Dick falls in love with a young artist named Dallas. Dallas admits that she lies Dirk, but she just does not love him enough to marry him. The problem she has with Dirk is that he has never had to struggle in his life that he has always got everything handed to him.

She goes on to say that struggle is very necessary for personal growth and wholeness. It gives a person a very special kind of lovable- ness, and it can even be detected in a person’s handshake.

ü        Any compassion I have is direct result of my own struggles and pains.

ü        Any worthwhile growth in my own life has taken place during times of struggle and conflict.

ü        To the fool it’s a problem, to the wise it’s an opportunity.



GOD'S PLAN 4 US

GOD’S PLAN FOR US

Once upon a time three young trees were growing side by side in a huge plantation. With typical youthful enthusiasm, they shared with one another their hopes for life when they reached maturity.

One hoped to be used in the building of some mansion, so that its grain and quality would be admired by the great and the famous.

The second hoped to form the tallest mast in the most beautiful sailing ship, thus gaining full attention as it sailed into any port.

The third hoped to be part of some big public spectacle, well out in the open, so that passer-by would stop and look on in wonder.

The reality for the trees according to the legend was:

-                           The first was cut down and part of it was used to make a trough for animals and it later became a manger in a stable.

-                           The second was cut down, and part of it was used to make a very simple fishing boat that spent a lot of its times tied up on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

-                           The third was cut down and part of it was used to form the beams of a cross, which was used for crucifixion.

Ø Despite the dreams of each individual tree, God had a personal plan and purpose for each.

Ø The ideal is to be available for God to use me in any way He chooses to establish, to promote and to build up the kingdom of His Son Jesus Christ.

Preaching the BIBLE

PREACHING THE BIBLE

A chaplain on a battlefield came across a young man who was lying in a small hole, seriously wounded. “Would you like me to read you something from this book, the Bible?” he answered, “I’m thirsty; I’d rather have a drink of water”, the soldier said. Hurrying away the chaplain soon brought the water. Then the wounded man said, “Could you put something under my head?”



The chaplain took off his overcoat, rolled it up, and gently placed it under the man’s head for a pillow. “Now”, said the suffering man, “if I just had something over me – I’m cold.” The chaplain immediately removed his jacket and put it over the wounded man to keep him warm. Then the soldier looked the chaplain straight in the eye and said, “If there’s anything in that book that makes a man do for another all that you have done for me, then please read it, because I’d love to hear it.”



 If my actions don’t speak of Gospel values, be sure my words never will.

 What affects people most is often caught rather that taught.

Determination 

You have got to get up every morning with determination if you are going to go to bed with satisfaction. 

- George Lorimer

Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough. 

- Og Mandino

the difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination. 

- Tommy Lasorda

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul. 

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Determination is the wake-up call to the human will. 

- Anthony Robbins

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SUPPLYING THE MATERIAL

A rich man had dream in which he died and went to heaven. St. Peter escorted him down a lovely street on which each house was magnificent. The rich man saw one house that was particularly beautiful. “That”, said Peter “is the house of one of your servants.”



“Well”, said the man, smiling, “if my servant has a building like that, then I’m really looking forward to seeing my own magnificent mansion.”

Soon they came to a very small street where the houses were tiny. “You will live in that hut,” said St. Peter, pointing his finger. “Me, live in that hovel!” roared the man in great anger. “This is the best we can do for you”, explained St. Peter. “You must understand that we only build your home up here with the material you send ahead while you are still on earth.”



 God won’t send you anywhere when you die – to hell or to heaven. He will eternalize whatever direction you are traveling in now.

 Heaven really begins down here on earth.

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WHERE IS JESUS?

This young girl was getting married. The whole ceremony was very important to her, and she had given a great deal of though to planning something really beautiful. She even suggested that a glass of champagne around the altar afterwards could help have the celebration begin in the proper place and would bridge the gap between church and hotel. The curate gave the OK for this, in the knowledge that that was the parish priest’s day off, and he need never know!

The crowd was gathered around the altar, glasses in hand, and the festivities were in full swing when the parish priest arrived back unexpectedly and came storming out of the sacristy. On being told that the curate had given the go – ahead for this, he headed for the presbytery next door. The curate knew he was caught, but, putting on a brave face, he spoke about the wedding at Cana, and all the wine Jesus had provided for the feast. At that, the parish priest exploded, “That was totally and utterly different. The Blessed Sacrament wasn’t there.”

v    Jesus is most present in the worshipping community.

v    That is a good example of a very antiseptic form of religion, which can make us so heavenly that we end up being no earthly good!

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WHEN YOU PRAY

Three clergy men were discussing different prayer postures. Each was convinced that his way was the best. One man was convinced that kneeling was the correct posture in prayer. Another was equally convinced that the proper posture was to be seated cross-legged on the floor. Another said that, like Jesus he always prayed “looking heavenward”.



There was an electrician listening to the discussion. He interrupted them to tell that of all the postures he ever used in prayer, he prayed more sincerely one time than any other. That was when he was hanging upside down by one leg form a telephone pole in a thunderstorm, when his ladder slipped.!



 God looks at and listens to the heart when we pray.

 The organ God has given me to pray with is my heart. If the heart is not praying, then the tongue is wasting its time, no matter what the body posture is.

LOOK INTO YOUR HEART

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LOOK INTO YOUR HEART

A young businessman began dating a charming young actress. The relationship progressed and developed until it reached the point when the businessman was considering the possibility of marrying the young woman. Being a very cautious businessman, he hired a private detective to check out the young actress, to ensure there weren’t any skeletons in her closet.



The detective knew nothing of the relationship in fact; he was just given the young woman’s name. he did his work very thoroughly and finally submitted the results of his investigation. It went something like this: “This is a very charming, honest, and upright young lady. There seems to be but one blemish on her character. It appears that, of late, she has been keeping company with a young businessman of very doubtful character, and of questionable reputation.”



- “Hypocrite! First get rid of the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see the speck in your brother’s eye.” (Mt 7:5)

- When I point one finger at another, there are three fingers pointing at me.