January 7, 2019
Happy New Year! The “Christmas Season” as the world looks at it is over so on to the next thing. But what happened to that Holy Family after Christmas? Everyone had gone home. The Magi offered their gifts to the true King. What now? Did those folks have all these magnificent things happen to them and now it’s over? Let’s go back to our lives like nothing happened. Was their any significance to the birth of that child in a manger?
Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Joseph, the protector of his family, had a dream. His is told to take the Holy Family to Egypt. The child is in danger. Joseph obeys, and they flee by night. Imagine how disruptive this was to a family with a new born child. We don’t know what the dialogue was between Mary and Joseph. What did Mary do? She followed Joseph. She believed, had faith that Joseph had been given this revelation by God through an angel. Mary’s example to us: “Act in faith.”
Can you, in your heart hear her saying to Joseph and to us, “Have faith?” Those words have meaning for us too. Look around. All the presents have lost their attraction, the food is now leftovers and the guests have all gone. We are left with the greatest gift of all, Faith. If we don’t look carefully, we will miss it. It is not very big. Maybe it is even smaller than that child whose birth we just finished celebrating. Imagine Mary’s advice to us to have Faith. How will we echo her example? We can always do what she did. When God asked her to do something that was impossible, she did it. In the year ahead will we listen to God if he asks us to do the impossible? You see that is what it means to walk by faith. Be open to God’s voice in your life. Listen. How does one listen? Listening to God is prayer.
Bible Vs.: Matt.: 2:13-15
Now, when they (the Magi) had departed, behold, and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said. “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt.
Prayer: Lord, help us to listen to your directions for us. Deepen our prayer relationship so that we can hear you better. Give us the faith to follow your call and to share your Word with others.
Your memory of what happened is not what happened. Your memory is your impression, your interpretation of what happened, and what it means to you.
Each memory can and does change, each time you remember it. It never was fully objective to begin with, and becomes less so as time goes on.
Your memory is not an unalterable police car dash cam recording. It is a dynamic tool with which your past guides your future.
You cannot change the objective reality of what happened to you, or by you, or around you. Yet you can choose precisely how you remember it, what it now means, what you learn from it, what you do with it.
The story of your life is yours to write, now, to make sense of, to pull together into an inspiring, empowering narrative. Whatever your past has been, you can project it through the lens of now into a positive, fulfilling future.
Today is the turning point in the story of your life. Today, let everything you remember push you toward the brightest, most meaningful life you can imagine.
— Ralph Marston
Read more at http://greatday.com/#
Are you stuck, unable to make any progress? Perhaps your desire to move forward is too narrowly focused.
Widen your field of vision until you can see more workable possibilities. Let go of some of the particulars of your goal while holding firm to its essence.
Yes, certainly, focus on achieving what you desire. But don’t become so narrowly and exclusively focused on your desire that you render yourself incapable of working toward it.
For example, a larger home might make a major positive difference in your family’s quality of life. But it doesn’t have to be on a specific street or even in one particular neighborhood.
If you’re stuck, your best possibilities are likely to be found among the ones you’ve never considered. But you’ve locked those possibilities out of your mind because of certain details about your goal that don’t even matter that much.
Put your persistence to work, rather than allowing stubbornness to hold you back. Widen your goal enough to open a clear and achievable path to it that you can begin to travel right now.
— Ralph Marston
Read more at http://greatday.com/#
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