Thursday, April 12, 2007

Doubts?

How often in the course of your life do you have DOUBTS? Doubts about meeting the right person, doubts about getting married, doubts about having enough money to raise your child(ren). Doubts about making the right choices each and every day with every decision you make. How about doubts about your faith? What is it that keeps us believing in God and coming to church on Sundays and living a Christian life each and every day? What is it that keeps us coming back for more, and reading more and more books on prayer, devotions, faith, God and Jesus? Why do we do it? What makes us believe? What makes us trust in God and that He will be there for us when we need Him, even though we can't see Him? In one five-letter word - FAITH. Our faith keeps us from doubting that God truly exists and that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. Our faith keeps us strong and helps us to get through the difficult times when we DOUBT ourselves and the situations around us. Our faith helps to put our doubts in perspective. Never DOUBT your FAITH. Never DOUBT the power of God's love for you.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Happy Easter!

If you're a gardener or a florist, you're probably pretty angry by this sudden change in the weather. We're supposed to be having moderately cool temperatures and rainy days, not snow and cold! I bet some of your plants had already started growing. Signs of spring in an otherwise bland landscape. Some of our flowers had just started blooming and then the snow hit. We also had other flowers with just the first hint of growth coming out of the ground. I wonder if they'll be strong enough to withstand the cold?

Have you ever planted a seed or a bulb, and watched its transformation as the days and weeks progressed? At first, nothing much seems to happen, the seed is planted, but the dirt is free of any seedlings. Then, one day you look and voila! a small bright spot of green has appeared out of the darkness and each day, that green gets taller and stronger and continues to grow. The darkness become smaller and smaller as the young flower starts to take hold and spread its joy all around. It's crucial in the beginning stages of a new plant to carefully tend it to see that it gets what it needs - water, food, love. (It's okay to talk to your seedling, really! They like it!!!) And don't think that after your seedling has become a beautiful flower that it doesn't need water, food, and love (and talking to). It does. As it grows, it needs nourishment, fulfillment. It needs You. As we celebrate this wonderful Easter Season, don't think for one minute that God doesn't need you. Let yourself be the seed, be planted, watered, fed and loved with His love and grace. Let God talk to you when you don't think you need it, and especially when you do. And when you feel yourself growing in His love, don't stop listening! Let Him continue to feed you with all that He has to offer. Let yourself grow into a beautiful flower and spread your seeds of love to others around you so they may know God's love as well. This Easter Season, let yourself grow into the beautiful flower that's inside of you...