Tag: wisdom

Posted in Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom

How About the Gift of Peace?

Posted on by Katharine

candle-lighter-award

Serenity

What on earth is peace on earth?

Tranquility?

We write poems about it. Is it calmness?

We take classes to learn it. Is it peacefulness?

We build our houses to achieve it. Is it quietude?

We take vacations to find it elsewhere. Is it stillness?

We even try screaming to see if we can’t get a little of it . . .

. . . “and QUIET!”

Is it composure?

Mellowness?

It’s more than the opposite of war.
Is it coolness?

Poise?

It cannot be bought for any price.
In fact, some of the poorest people possess it.
Some of the richest also possess it, along with some of the saddest and the happiest.
Is it contentment?

It also knows no color, no rank, no age, and no gender.
Is it repose?

It sounds indefinable, but it is not.

It just passes all understanding.

The definition?

Peace is the fruit of intimate communion with Jesus Christ.
Anything else that masquerades as peace is false, will fall, will fail, will fly away.

Facts are: Constantly working hard to capture all the runaway part of your own self-manufactured peace and keep them somehow glued together
is not a very peaceful existence.

Getting the Prince of Peace to do it for you is—mmm—peaceful.
He just gives us peace, His peace.

Of course, such a great gift would be wrapped and need to be unwrapped
before we could use it, right?

The wrapping is Jesus, Himself, and the unwrapping is as easy as letting go—
and as difficult.

Actually, this gift is a trade.
We give up our own peace and trade it to Him for His peace,
as when we trade in a bent and sweaty ticket for the ride, itself.

And He paid for the ticket.

And our hands were what bent and soiled it.

So simple, some people let it insult them.
Some people are so accustomed to a difficult peace
that they disdain something so simple.

Posted in Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Inspiring, Sayings, Wisdom

Another Time and Another Place

Posted on by Katharine
Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale: (1805) [c...
Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale: (1805) [cropped] (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Try this on for size:

“A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity.”

—Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address.
For some rather uncanny facts about Jefferson’s presidential election, go here. You will be surprised at some parallel statistics.
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Posted in Coffee-ism, Inspiring, Wisdom

Meet a New Coffee-Loving Friend Today

Posted on by Katharine
English: Making of Latte art of cappuccino on ...
Making of Latte art of cappuccino on Coffee Right in Brno, Czech Republic. Výroba Latté artu na Cappuccinu na Coffee Right v Brně.

Just met a new blogger, a young missionary in Czech Republic. So far, what he has written is great reading. Thought you’d enjoy taking a peek and wishing him well. Here he is:

______________

Divine Addiction

I don’t think it’s a very big secret that I love coffee.

Like for real, I have a serious love affair with caffeinated beverages, hot or cold. Whenever I go into a coffee shop, I have a routine.

I myself am a barista, so I already know the best way to prepare these beverages, but I must decide what the flavor combination will be, so I stare at the board, pretending to make a decision based off of what I see there, but what I am really doing is having a discussion with my taste buds and trying to negotiate a compromise between their opposing demands.

Finally, when we all come to a conclusion, I then scan the pastries to decide what would best go with that drink. (The pastries I see may or may not affect the treaty that my taste buds and I have signed.) Once that has all happened, I lay this request at the mercy of the barista behind the register, pay for my order (including a tip; if you want a good drink, you MUST tip) and then find the place that I want to hunker down and celebrate this magnificent creation I am about to receive.

Crazy, right?

____________

Okay, friends, GO HERE to read the rest of this great post all the way from Czech Republic. You’ll like it, I think.

Posted in Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Scripture

Get Grace

Posted on by Katharine

Gift Box

You hear them all the time: people who have fantasies about what they wish God would be like, making up definitions of Bible stuff.

Some of these people have actually read the Bible.

Some have attended church and heard a preacher who decided to redefine something to fit his message, and because of that, think they understand it.

Beware: It will never stop

Grace is not mercy. Mercy is when a judge feels sorry for you or thinks it would be more improvement for society for you not to go to jail; you don’t get what you deserved.

Now, Christians don’t get what we deserve. That is true. But that is not grace. It is mercy. Mercy and grace are not the same things.

Or, why would Paul pray that “grace, mercy, and peace be unto you”?

Paul had too much to say to waste parchment by being redundant.

Still, because we do not grasp what in the world grace is, some of us assign it the definition that belongs to mercy.

So, since we do get mercy, anyway, and we tell folks we get mercy, what is wrong?

What is wrong is that we rob them of also getting grace.

That’s what.

We rob them of the only way to walk with the Lord in the Light of His Word.

Serious stuff.

Life altering stuff.

The essence of actual life.

As opposed to the fabricated life, the fake life, the hypocritical life.

Grace.

You need it.

God provided that you can get it.

And the clueless can keep you away from it.

And they don’t even know that about themselves.

Grace is the power of God doing things in you.

Grace is the power of God doing things with you.

Grace is the power of God doing things for you.

Grace is the power of God doing things through you.

“Stand in His strength alone.
The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.”

Grace is that strength.

Get that strength.

Go boldly to the Throne of Grace and get grace to help you in your time of need. (See Hebrews 4:16)

Like when someone refuses to get off your case, you can be kind to them, anyway.

Or when someone takes away your things, you can offer them even more.

Or when you are so tired you can hardly move, you can keep moving.

Strength.

God’s strength.

Working in, with, through, and for you.

Out of His great mercy, He does not destroy us.

But He offers to do our doing FOR us, to live IN us, to walk this life WITH us, to work THROUGH us.

Oh, and it’s a gift.

You just have to ask.

Get that grace.

Posted in Health, Home School, Wisdom

Who Should Home School?

Posted on by Katharine

Physical bullying at school, as depicted in th...
Physical bullying at school, as depicted in the film Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Are you on this list?

  1. Those who think ketchup is not a vegetable
  2. Those who think ketchup is a vegetable
  3. Those who know what bullying feels like
  4. Those who don’t know what bullying feels like.
  5. Those who know there is always free cheese in a mousetrap
  6. Those who care about their children
  7. Those whose conscience is bothering them about lack of school choice
  8. Those whose minds are not concrete (mixed up and permanently set)
  9. Those whose children need to pray before an algebra test
  10. Those who have good horse sense and want their children to have it, too
  11. Those who know the best way to get a life worth living is to make it that way
  12. Those who want to guide their children’s experiences
  13. Those whose hearts are telling them things their minds are not sure about
  14. Those who realize little ones do not learn by the clock.
  15. Those who long for a simpler life
  16. Those who want everything green for their kids
  17. Those whose children have roach allergies
  18. Those whose children stay sick all during the school year
  19. Those who are at home
  20. Those who must travel all the time

You don’t have to cry over spilled milk if you own the cow.

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Pencils need erasers like I need the Lord.
Posted in Inspiring, Wisdom

I’m a very good pencil.

Posted on by Katharine

 

A pencil is only as good as its eraser, otherwise it might as well be a pen.     —S. W. Orren

A pencil does stuff like I do.

It creates things—me too.

It can communicate deep thoughts—so deep I’d drown without a pencil.

It can keep track of all needed groceries—which actually is more than I can do.

It sometimes even tells jokes.

A pencil often works best when it is sharp, as do I.

A sharp pencil can do math and keep track of appointments.

Yet the most beloved pencil often is the soft kind that yields to slight pressure to produce a better work. This type seldom is really sharp, but no one really cares.

I’m hoping my soft answers make up for my lack of sharpness . . .

A pencil can make mistakes. The lead can break. It can form letters wrong. It can misplace a few jots and tittles. Mostly, though, the pencil is a very good study partner.

The pen:

Pens also can make mistakes. The ink can blob. The ink can run dry. The ink can smear. The ink can drip. The ink seems to be the main trouble with a pen.

Yet what good is a pen without ink?

About as good as a pencil without lead.

Ah, but enter the eraser!

This wonderful remover of the past, this delete button for the pencil, is most recognized for its worth during times of trouble.

In fact, having an eraser can make me, as a pencil, less prone to mistakes—more relaxed, I guess.

I have a very good Eraser. My Eraser can fix anything. My Eraser makes all things new—a very present help in trouble.

And I am very glad.

But how about you? Do you make mistakes? Do you cringe when I ask? Do you wish you could get rid of the past? It’s a simple walk to a stationery store for a decent eraser, you know. The Eraser of all life mistakes is a simple contact, too. Best thing is He wants to be yours. He longs to be in your life, so much so, that He comes running to meet you more than half-way. Your pain is killing Him, especially because He could fix it. Really. He won’t be shocked at your life—He’s been watching it since before you were born.

Get yourself this Good Eraser.

He will change the past and even the future.

You will never be sorry.