Giving @ MindSay 
love
Though I don't believe in the God of the Torah, bible or Koran I do believe that Jesus was a profound man who spoke words of truth. And that if the Christians would only really live by them the world would be completely changed.
From the time of his birth till his death Jesus spoke only of love, peace, kindness,charity and man serving man and not himself. He said if a man had, he was to give to others. He said life was not about an abundance of possessions but storing up treasures in heaven.
Remember the young man who came to Jesus and asked what he must do that he might inherit eternal life? Jesus first told him to keep the commandments. The young man replied he had done these things from his youth.Then Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor and to take up his cross and follow him. And the young man went away sad because his things meant more to him than following Jesus and instead of parting with them...he parted from Jesus. ( Mark 10:17 - 10:25)
Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Christmas is coming soon. All my Christian friends have told me of their Christmas plans, parties and travels. They have told me of gifts they're giving and gifts they wish for but not one has said to me " I look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus and I hope I will find a way of spending that day in a manner that is pleasing to him".
You see, for most Jesus is still hanging on that cross.. or laying in his tomb dead and they act as if his word died with him. And they visit his grave now and then and lay down a few flowers and leave. And then feel as if they have done their duty.
For the few Jesus is risen and alive and well and living in them. And the "word" he spoke is alive and living in them also and they have cast off their "grave clothes' and they are following him where ever he is going.
The gate is narrow and they must enter single file, following directly behind him, not off to one side or the other but placing their feet directly in his footsteps...this my friend is a true follower of Jesus!
As for me,I can't say whether or not Jesus arose from the dead. Like Thomas I would have to touch him physically to know that. I cannot say I believe he was God or the son of God. But, I do believe Jesus spoke the truth when he said we must take care and love one another. We must share what we have and not neglect the poor. And I do believe that a life defined by the "possessions you gather" instead of the love you share is no life at all.
John 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
I was at dinner one night with my two best friends. The place was nice, food was good, and so was the conversation. Until halfway through dinner, Jenny suddenly spoke up with a sigh ‘I feel so old and useless.’ That shook us by surprise. ‘Hey, what’s wrong now? “, May countered at the same time threw a quick glance at me. ‘Oh it’s this feeling I got yesterday. It feels like I’ve done nothing yet for me.’ Well, I won’t tell more about that night or about Jenny except that her words weighed heavily on my mind even long after that evening had past.
When I woke up early this morning I headed straight to my daughters’ bedroom to tidy up. I don’t know why they can’t learn to make up their beds before going to work. I’ve been trying to make them for years now. It’s all rush – rush – rush! Well, I saw this book lying on my daughter’s bed. It was A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Canfield and Hansen, authors. With nothing much to do I took it, sat on her bed and leisurely leafed through its pages … and froze on page 181. I remembered Jenny.
It read…
MILLIE’S MOTHER’S RED DRESS
It hung there in the closet
While she was dying, Mother’s red dress,
Like a gash in the row
Of dark, old clothes
She had worn away her life in.
They had called me home
And I knew when I saw her
She wasn’t going to last.
When I saw the dress, I said
“Why, Mother-- how beautiful!
I’ve never seen it on you.”
I sat by her bed
And she sighed a bigger breath
Than I thought she could hold.
“Now that I’ll soon be gone,
I can see some things.
Oh, I taught you good—but I taught you wrong.”
“What do you mean, Mother?”
“Well—I always thought
That a good woman never takes her turn,
That she’s just for doing for somebody else.
Do here, do there, always keep
Everybody else’s wants tended and make sure
Yours are at the bottom of the heap.
“Maybe someday you’ll get to them.
But of course you never do.
My life was like that—doing for your dad,
Doing for the boys, for your sisters, for you.”
“You did—everything a mother could.”
“Oh, Millie, Millie, it was no good—
For you—for him. Don’t you see?
I did you the worst of wrongs.
I asked for nothing—for me!
“Your father in the other room,
All stirred up and staring at the walls—
When the doctor told him, he took
It bad—came to my bed and all but shook
The life right out of me. “You can’t die,
Do you hear? What’ll become of me?’
“What’ll become of me?’
It’ll be hard, all right, when I go.
He can’t even find the frying pan, you know.
“And you children—
I was a free ride for everybody, everywhere.
I was the first one up and the last one down
Seven days out of the week.
I always took the toast that got burned.
And the very smallest piece of pie.
“I look to how some of your brothers
Treat their wives now
And it makes me sick, ’cause it was me
That taught it to them. And they learned.
They learned that a woman doesn’t
Even exist except to give.
Why, every single penny that I could save
Went for our clothes, or your books,
Even when it wasn’t necessary.
Can’t even remember once when I took
Myself downtown to buy something beautiful—
For me.
“Except last year when I got that red dress.
I found I had twenty dollars
That wasn’t especially spoke for.
I was on my way to pay it extra on the washer.
But somehow—I came home with this big box.
Your father really gave it to me then.
‘Where you going to wear a thing like that to—
Some opera or something?’
And he was right, I guess.
I’ve never, except in the store,
Put on that dress.
“Oh Millie—I always thought if you take
Nothing for yourself in this world
You’d have it all in the next somehow
I don’t believe that anymore.
I think the Lord wants us to have something—
Here—and now.
“And I’m telling you, Millie, if some miracle
Could get me off this bed, you could look
For a different mother, ‘cause I would be one.
Oh I passed up my turn so long
I would hardly know how to take it.
But I’d learn, Millie.
I would learn!”
It hung there in the closet
While she was dying, Mother’s red dress,
Like a gash in the row
Of dark, old clothes
She had worn away her life in.
Her last words to me were these:
“Do me the honor, Millie,
Of not following in my footsteps.
Promise me that.”
I promised.
She caught her breath
Then Mother took her turn
In death.
By Carol Lynn Pearson
It’s quite a long piece, isn’t it? But it can’t be written in any other way. This in the way Pearson wrote it is pure gold. Tomorrow I’m going to give Jenny a copy. And I am going to tell her that she would be doing her family a big favor and would love them best if first she learned to “do something – for me”… and to do it here—and now.
If we wait for the perfect moment, the right timing, the worthy persons, or the highest peak of sympathy and compassion we will never get to do anything worthwhile. Big money is available only to a few lucky ones so we all know; popularity or influence sometimes is inherited through family prominence, so not everybody is afforded the opportunity or chance to do something special for a greater number of people on a grand or grander scale. Ordinary people and ordinary lives is what the world is mainly made of. But we all have the same hearts longing to make a contribution changing the world. So we try.. and thus some of us who can afford to try to make things happen by making out huge donations to a favorite charity, sponsor a gala event to highlight a good cause, finance a research project in a specific field such as medicine, education, environment, outer space, science, etc. Fantastic, isn’t it? Wish we could all be that and do all that but it isn’t quite so.
Instead we are this --- the husband and father rushing to work early in the morning, the wife and mother doing the endless chores around the home, and the children doing what children do. Then there’s the mailman delivering the mail, the power guy fixing power lines, the street sweeper, the plumber, the taxi driver, the salesgirl, and lots of others more. Look to our small neighborhoods and watch how life unfolds each day and you will see yourself mirrored in it.
We can give from what we are, who we are, and from what we have where we are. There’s our laughter, our joys, our apple pies, a cup of sugar for the person next door, a helping hand when sought for, or maybe just a friendly smile and some kindness for someone who appears lost. Those don’t cost much…even easier to give. And believe it or not we have them in abundant supply from within ourselves. I remember what mom used to say to me and my kid brother … ‘Anything of and from the heart is far more precious than a checkbook.’ Yup, it’s all right here in the heart. So give!
"How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway... And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!" -- Anne Frank
i'm thankful for (in no particular order):
mom
dad
bro
sis
samantha
nicole
sara
grace
tucker
mason
all the guys who hurt me
all the guys who made me smile
my best friend from kindergarten
my worst enemy in high school
my first blue ribbon
my last sin
michael phelps
jazz
relient k
salad
water
mountain dew
family force 5
cars
love
gasoline
my laptop
turkey dinners
summertime
mexican food
typing
smarts
college
the ou sooners
american eagle
the weather channel
clocks
socks
hugs
fox news (because it's fair and balanced ;])
straight leg jeans
sweaters
tank tops
sperry topsiders
chuck taylor all-stars
pumpkin pie
emilie loring's books
ted dekker's books
forever 21
flannel pajama (puh-jahma) pants
journals
barnes and noble
aquafina bottled water
sunbelt chocolate chip granola bars
soccer
my camera
pictures
vintage/handed down jewelry
guitar hero
but really, the thing i'm the most thankful for, the Someone Whose made all of that possible and so much more i haven't even mentioned!, is above all of it. He's the entire reason i give thanks.
have a wonderful thanksgiving, full of love and life and of course, thankfulness.
=]
الدعاء والعبوديه لله عز وجل
قال الله عز وجل في كتابه العزيز: "وقال ربكم أدعوني أستجب لكم إن الذين يستكبرون عن عبادتي سيدخلون جهنم داخرين". غافر 60
عندما يدعوا أنسانا الله عز وجل طالبا منه المساعده والعون فإن هذا الدعاء في حد ذاته أقرار بربانيه الله جل وعلى وبعبوديه الأنسان لله رب العالمين. عندما تواجه الأنسان صعوبه أو يرغب في شئ قد يراه صعب التحقيق ولا يجد من يعاونه عليه يلجأ لسؤال مالك الملك عونه ومساعدته فهذا أقرار من الأنسان بهذه العبوديه لله وبربوبيه الله. فألاحساس بالعبوديه لله جل وعلى مرتبط أرتباطا وثيقا بدعائه وطلب عونه.
نجد هذا الربط أيضا في سورة الفاتحه التي يجب أن يرددها كل مسلم ومسلمه 17 مره يوميا على الأقل في كل ركعه من الصلوات المفروضه حيث قال الله عز وجل: "إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين". الفاتحه 5
من هذا نفهم لماذا يغضب الله سبحانه وتعالى على عباده الذين لا يدعونه كما قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: "من لم يسأل الله يغضب عليه". الترمذي دعوات 24
هذا عكس البشر تماما. فالبشر يغضب ويضجر إذا ما ألح عليه السائل في الطلبات ذلك لأن البشر مهما كان منصبه أو ثراءه محدود القدره والمال والكرم. أما الله عز وجل غير محدود القدره أو المال أو الكرم. لذلك فهو يحب من يدعوه ويسأله مقرا له بالربوبيه ويغضب على من لا يدعوه ولا يسأله أستكبرا على أن يكون عبدا للعلى القدير.
د.أحمد سعفان
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