I am finally in Ohio!!! More tomorrow!
I am so thankful for this amazing trip I just took to Connecticut & Boston!!! Still driving! 3 more hours…
life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Hope”
life is made of days and moments
There are good days and bad days. We all have them. Why do some days flow better than others? We have our routines we follow most of the time, yet some days, things just don’t work. Some days are good hair days and some days we feel like we want to crawl out of our own skin.
It is our challenge to look for the good in our toughest moments. The days of car accidents, heels breaking, broken hearts or broken bodies. There is ALWAYS something good to find – IF we look for it. Our attitude is one of the few things in life we can control, it is the most important tool we have. When we decide we want a happy life – no matter what circumstance we find ourself in – we begin to make the choices that make that possible. A bad day, or moment, is not a bad life – do not let it derail you.
We are here for a limited time. What we do with that time matters. We have no guarantee of another day, or another moment. Ben Franklin said, ‘Do not waste time, for time is the stuff that life is made of.”
What if this moment is your last? How do you want to live it? Ok, do that! Still here? Yay!!! Take a deep breath, say a prayer of thanks and realize you are blessed to get the chance to do it again!
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Holly Gerth was a guest writer for Ann Voskamp yesterday – http://www.aholyexperience.com/
We’re made of where we’ve been, of who we’ve loved.
I’m standing in an hourglass. We all are.
I grasp each grain of sand for a second, feel it between my toes, tuck some of it into my heart.
Then I let it go with a smile and sigh.
Because that’s what it takes to be ready for the next bit of joy.
Open hands.
Open eyes.
Open hearts.
We all watch the sunset.
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Holley Gerth is the best-selling author of You’re Already Amazing. Check out www.holleygerth.com.
the right words
I had an important job interview a couple of weeks ago (I am still waiting to hear), and at the very e
nd of it I made a statement that I wished, immediately, I hadn’t made. It wasn’t something horrid – it was just something I wished I hadn’t revealed about myself at this point in the process, know what I mean?
For a couple of days I kept thinking about it and wondering why I even said it. Then I felt directed to open my Bible to Luke 21: 14-15 and the words of Jesus filled my heart. ‘Do not think about what you will say beforehand. Go in my Spirit and I will give you the words to say.’
I have done much preparation to follow God’s leading and I know that I a vessel willing to speak what God would have me speak, and so I relaxed…evidently that was what I was supposed to say. Whatever happens will be God’s plan unfolding – not mine. I trust that I have done what I am supposed to do, and if the job doesn’t happen, it is because it is not the right job for me.
As I wait to hear if I got this job, I am working on other parts of my faith – patince, letting go, hope, joy, peace, obedience. You know – the virtues which are the hardest ones ot master…pray for me.
Hope against hope, and ask till ye receive. -James Montgomery
…yet you have not, because you ask not.
James 4:2
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Matthew 7:7 -11
Of Dreams and Wishes
Excerpt from “An Essay on Man”
by Alexander Pope
ALL are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul;
That, changed through all, and yet in all the same,
Great in the earth, as in th’ ethereal frame,
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,
Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent:
Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part;
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart;
As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns
As the rapt Seraphim, that sings and burns:
To him no high, no low, no great, no small—
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all….
All nature is but art, unknown to thee:
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see:
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good.
Public domain
Macro shot of dewdrops by Sharon Johnstone
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/
Courage is also a thing with feathers…
I think laughter may be a form of courage. As humans we sometimes stand tall and look into the sun and laugh, and I think we are never more brave than when we do that. – Linda Ellerbee
Going Over
You have burned your bridges.
You have passed through the gate
marked “no return”
And for you there is no going back
No going back to the security of
the known, familiar house,
To the well-worn dispensations
and the threadbare coverings.
Now you are out there in uncharted
territory
heavy with threat and shadows not
yet entered.
The risks are high, and yet you
strike out boldly,
Guided only by unwavering conviction
And the longing for the true centre
of the land.
This is what it means to do a new
thing.
So, you travel lightly.
You are abandoned, given up in all
things
To the task that lies ahead.
Therefore, you may be exactly who
you are.
You have inhabited yourself,
You are at home,
And home is where you are,
Even if it is the desert.
No one can dispossess you of your own in-dwelling.
This is what it means to be free.
We stand, one foot upon the bridge,
Wondering if we too have the courage to go over
And strike the match behind us.
Kathy Galloway. The Dream of Learning our True Name.
Used with permission
Why walking in faith is our calling
I believe God wants you to know…
…that everything is falling together perfectly, even
though it looks as if some things are falling apart.
Trust in the process you are now experiencing. Life
is on your side. It is showing that to you now, though
you may not be able to see it clearly at this time.
You have made your wishes and dreams known to
God. Now comes the time for faith. Faith that all
is right, right now. Tomorrow will reveal itself exactly
as it should.
– Neale Donald Walsh
http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/index.php?p=Home
During your times of ‘active waiting’ keep your eyes and heart open for God!!!
The greatest discovery of all time is that a person
can change his future by merely changing his attitude.
– Oprah Winfrey
The many contradictions in our lives – such as being home while feeling homeless, being busy while feeling bored, being popular while feeling lonely, being believers while feeling many doubts – can frustrate, irritate, and even discourage us. They make us feel that we are never fully present. Every door that opens for us makes us see how many more doors are closed.
But there is another response. These same contradictions can bring us into touch with a deeper longing, for the fulfillment of a desire that lives beneath all desires and that only God can satisfy. Contradictions, thus understood, create the friction that can help us move toward God.
Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org/
Look for the miracles and the openings!!!
life: acoustic & amplified 
