2/23/2025
Sunday morning brought a smile to my face, as I awakened in anticipation of a brighter day. As I hurried to ready myself for church services, the day was prefaced with the morning call with Israel and the beautiful worship of Gitten singing sweet love songs to Jesus. I always love singing hymns and melodies of worship songs and scriptures, lifting me high into heaven into the presence of God. If this doesn't set your day in order, nothing will. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.... That's how the scripture goes.
Our focus this month at my church is on the study of Galatians. It seems as if this epistle is the one I am meant to ingest, as I am involved in an online discipleship study of Galatians with Harvest Ministries, and I finished up a previous study on it about three months ago. It doesn't matter what I study, as long as I'm reading the word with people who love Jesus and desire to walk in His perfect will for our lives. I am looking forward to joining the Wednesday night studies once my life settles back down. As you may recall, I have a funeral to attend this week, and my sincere prayer is that our family remains healthy and whole.
I've also been consumed with the issues involving the hostage release and other pressing matters in Israel, our country with a new administration, and other nations where there is extreme persecution for Christians. Things seem to be heating up all over, but that is more reason to resist the enemy, stay in the word, and put our trust solely on our Lord. Isaiah 26:3 says "He will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee." My daily devotional offered this timely wisdom: "Obedience is not the essence of a right relationship with God, but it is evidence of it."
Generally, Sunday afternoons are spent listening to messages, catching up on reading, preparing my calendar of meetings for the week, or phone calls to friends and family. Once in awhile I'll watch a movie, a favorite series like The Chosen, but today I decided to watch the movie "The Help." When I was finishing up my message from Harvest Ministries on YouTube, I noticed in the right side of the screen a list of other videos, and among them was this movie. I remembered it vaguely, and so, I started watching it. It was about mistreatment of blacks in the early 50's, when I was but a baby. I don't think my young heart could have handled the disrespect towards others at that time, and at 74, my heart cries over this awful, unholy truth still. It may not be popular to say that, as believe it or not, there are people who still hold the same distorted views of others being less than themselves. I will never understand, but I am blessed to not having witnessed it in my home. I do have flashbacks of some incidents, but they were never acts of unkindness. Still, I remember.
I am glad that the new administration will be investigating the murders of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Although I was young, these men touched my life, and I listened, and I heard, and I learned, and I practiced loving others better than myself. I become nostalgic remembering my friends I see once in a while at a reunion or our little get togethers. I lived in predominately Hispanic and Native American areas for 35 years while in Northern New Mexico, and I love and miss everyone. We make friends wherever we are, and together we make life interesting and our stories intermingle. Life's not perfect, but there are days of near perfection when our hearts are open to love each other as we are. Perhaps one day we will understand that truth. I pray so. Until that day comes, may we reminded that although life is not perfect, we can do our part by standing up for others, being lights in a world that seems so dark. I want to be one candle shining, how about you?!
No comments:
Post a Comment