You Can’t Beat God Giving!

God’s Overflowing Beauty at Phoenix Lake. A lovely gift toward the end of a good hike.

Thursday’s Gospel reading is from Luke 6

Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.

I am reminded of words from a Gospel song:

You cant’ beat God giving, no matter how you try!
The more you give the more God gives to you.
So keep on giving, because it’s really true; 
You cant’ beat God giving, no matter how you try!

The Power of our Thoughts

If you realized
how powerful
your thoughts are,
you would never think
a negative thought.

– Peace Pilgrim

Let Us Open our Eyes

One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, “What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”

– Rachel Carson

The Wisdom of Pooh

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.

– A.A. Milne (via Eeyore)

Pampass grass on the bluff

One of our sisters considers pampas grass to be a nuisance, and rather large weeds. I’ve always found it pretty to look at. It’s that way sometimes, weeds . . . flowers. Kinda depends on your perspective on how you see them. Probably if I had to deal with uprooting them in garden where they were unwanted, I would see them as weeds too.

Are there any weeds in my life that I would be helped by seeing them as flowers?

 

Silence Gives us a New Perspective

I share a piece of wisdom from Mother Teresa today.

The trees, the flowers, the plants grow in silence.
The stars, the sun, the moon move in silence.
Silence gives us a new perspective.

– Blessed Mother Teresa.

Silence of the Moon, give us a new perspective

With Delight I Rejoice in God

Saturday’s Responsorial Psalm is from the Psalm 13

With delight I rejoice in the Lord.

Though I trusted in your mercy,
let my heart rejoice in your salvation.

With delight I rejoice in the Lord.

Let me sing of the LORD, “God has been good to me.”

With delight I rejoice in the Lord.

 

God Will Give Us the Desires of our Hearts

Psalm 37 is tomorrow’s Responsorial Psalm. Whenever I have the privilege to speak with young women about discerning their call, verse 4 of this Psalm comes to mind . . . and to my lips:

Delight yourself in the Lord, and God will give you the desires of your heart. 

In other words, we can trust the desires of our own hearts when we our hearts and minds are centered in God.

 

The Beauty of the Seas

In Wednesday’s Responsorial Psalm from Psalm 24 we read:

The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For God founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.

View of the ocean while hiking on Palomarin Trail at Point Reyes

Finding a Quiet Time and Place

In Wednesday’s Gospel from Luke 4 we read,
At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.

We would all do well to find
– some quiet time
– some morning time before the day crowds around us
– in some deserted place.

It would benefit our hearts, our minds, our spirits, our bodies, and our relationships.

A deserted spot In Arches National Park, Utah

All Creation Gives Thanks

In Tuesday’s Responsorial Psalm from Psalm 145 we read:

Let all your works give you thanks, O God,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Reign
and speak of your might.