day 32

today started daylight savings which means spring is just around the corner, it's been a beautiful couple days this weekend. so day i got a text from my best friend that i thought was really appropriate during this uncertain times we are facing in our nation. i hope this will encourage you as it did me when i read it, since there are a lot of us that are unemployed. so keep your head up and know that there is something better on the horizon.
"what the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly." lao tzu

peace......

day 31

today has been a great day! we had a couples bridal shower for my 23 year old niece and her husband to be. thought it was mostly family. it was nice getting together with everyone and playing with the children. so now as my baby girl slwwps after her big day of playing with the other kids i thought i would but a new quote up from my mother teresa book, just a little short quote that has a lot to really think about like much of this book had so far. so for the latest quote here it is........
to please him only is the joy i seek.
in an age where we are trying to find joy in things and entertainment, her only joy was to please her god. that is a heart completely and totally sold out to god!!!

peace..............

day 29

since starting my book on mother teresa, i have been challenged by her undying love and unwavering faith in god. her willingness to give up everything including herself for the sake of the gospel in just plain inspiring. at the start of each chapter there are little quotes by mother teresa and i thought this one was really good.
"if only one little unhappy child is made happy with the love of jesus,...will it not be worth...giving all for that?"
this quote really spoke to me about for the last 10 months my wife and i have been raising our 2 year old niece. mother teresa is exactly right it is worth all you give just to see them happy, i know for us it does. just to hear her laugh puts a joy in our hearts i'm not sure either of us have ever felt. i think it's all about getting yourself out of your comfort zone to help people, because like the scripture says in matthew 25:40 "and the king will tell them, i assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me."

peace...........

day 28

i know that each of us have heard "jesus loves you", to point it has become just another catch phrase. but i think the next exert from my book on mother teresa will give a whole new insight to that old phrase and let you see something you may have never seen before, at least for me it did.
"jesus wants me to tell you again...how much is the love he has for each one of you-beyond all what you can imagine....not only he loves you, even more-he longs for you. he misses you when you don't come close. he thirsts for you. he loves you always, even when you don't feel worthy....do you believe it?...why does jesus say "i thirst"? what does it mean? something so hard to explain in words-..."i thirst" is something much deeper than just jesus saying "i love you." until you know how deep inside that jesus thirsts for you-you can't begin to know who he wants to be for you. or who he wants you to be for him."
i hope this encourages you as you start a new day, knowing that jesus thirsts for you. the more i think about the more it just blows my mind that jesus could love me and you that much.....

peace.........

day 27

as time is coming to go to bed i wanted to put this exert from the book that i've reading on the private writings of mother teresa.
"don't look for big things, just do small things with great love...the smaller the thing the greater must be our love." she lived this principle in whatever she was doing throughout each day. whether it was big or small mattered not to her; everything she did was an opportunity to love.
the more i read the more i'm challenged by the love she had for people and her god.

peace......

day 26

as predicted we got our first big snow of the year about 4-6 inches, or it least for this part of the country it was big. i love a good snow exceptionally with a 2 year old, as you can tell by the pic she had a great time playing in the snow, as i did watching and taking pictures of her. here is a verse i found in the bible that is the way every parent should view their children.

"Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. Psalm 127:3" (new living translation)

day 25

in my small little part of the world,we are bracing for the first real major winter storm of the year. the weathermen are saying you could see anywhere from 4-8 ins. of snow by the time it ends sometime tomorrow. so if you are like me and are going to be home bound for a day or two, you will have plenty of time for reading and blogging. so here's an exert from the book i've been reading about mother teresa..........
"why must we give ourselves fully to god? because god has given himself to us. if god owes nothing to us is ready to impart to us no less than himself, shall we answer with just a fraction of ourselves? to give ourselves fully to god is a means of receiving god himself. i for god and god for me. i live for god and give up my own self, and in this way induce god to live for me. therefore to possess god we must allow him to possess our souls."
this book has been quite challenging because mother teresa was just wanted to do god's will in her life no matter what it might cost her. it really makes you stop and think about your own commitment to god in your own life.

peace........