TRUSTING THE FATHER



TRUSTING THE FATHER

A group of botanist was exploring almost inaccessible regions in search of new species of flowers. One day they spied through binoculars, a flower of great rarity and beauty. It lay in a deep ravine, with perpendicular cliffs a t both sides. To reach it, someone would have to be lowered over the sheer precipice by means of a rope, and it was certainly a very dangerous undertaking.

Approaching a young lad nearby, who was watching them with great curiosity, they said, “We’ll give you twenty dollars if you’ll let us lower you down below to obtain that beautiful rare flower for us.” The young lad took a look away down into the ravine and replied, “Just a minute. I’ll be back.” When he returned he was accompanied by an older man. Approaching one of the botanists, he said, “I’ll go over the cliff and get that flower for you if this man holds the rope. He’s my father.”

v God sent Jesus to tell us to call him “Abba, Daddy.”

v “I will not leave you orphans,” said Jesus. Then he gave His Father and His Mother. However, he went on to tell us that it wouldn’t work unless we became like children.

LOVE

LOVE

You are all familiar with the “Love is…” cartoons or drawings. We have many, many posters of nice “sugary” definitions of love. St Augustine answered the question: “What does love look like?” His answer is simple”

“Love has hands to help others.

It has feet to hasten to the poor and needy.

It has eyes to see misery and want.

It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of others.

That’s what love looks like.”

v The nearest I’ll ever come to seeing God in this life is if I ever come across a few people who really love one another!

v Love is always creative, always building up, always confirming.

LIVING THE GOSPELS

LIVING THE GOSPELS

Three people were discussing some recent translations of the Bible. One said, ‘I like the New American version. It is so much clearer than the older versions, and is so much easier to read.’

The second said, ‘I like the Jerusalem Bible. It’s not only clearer, but it’s more poetic, which makes it more suitable for us in prayer.’

The third said, ‘I like my mother’s translation best of all. She translated the Bible into actions, which makes it to much easier to apply to daily life.’

v You write a new page of the gospel each day, by the things you do, and the words that you say. People read what you are write, whether faithful or true. What is the gospel according to you?

v You may be the only gospel some people will ever read; they may never buy the books.

THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

A little boy was crying bitterly in class. The teacher asked what was wrong and he said that his sister was really dead, because they had put her in the ground and covered her up!

The teacher took the boy by the hand and brought him over to the window, on which was a box of clay. Some weeks earlier the class had planted seeds in the clay. The teacher explained that they were not intended to remain as seeds. They were planted in the clay, and after a while they began to sprout and grow into plants and flowers – which is what they wee meant to become.

She poked in the clay with her finger and removed one of the seeds, which has already begun to put forth shoots and to put down roots. “The seed is not dead,” she said; “it is changing and it is now becoming what it was always meant to become.”

-    “For us Christian people, life is changed, not ended.”

-     When I die, I then become all that God created me to be.

-     If you ever wake up some morning, and you find that your life is all it should be, then, don’t move – just call the undertaker.

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!