Be Strong....

Be Strong

Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, show courage, be strong.
   —1 Cor 16:13

Do not pray for easy lives!

Pray to be stronger men.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.

Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle.
    —Phillips Brooks.

We must remember that it is not in any easy or self-indulgent life that Christ will lead us to greatness.

The easy life leads not upward, but downward.

Heaven always is above us, and we must ever be looking up toward it.

These are some people who always avoid things that are costly, that require self-denial, or self-restraint and sacrifice, but toil and hardship show us the only way to nobleness.

Greatness comes not by having a mossy path made for you through the meadow, but by being sent to hew out a roadway by your own hands.

Are you going to reach the mountain splendors?
     —Selected.

Be strong! 
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift; 
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift. 
Shun not the struggle; face it. 'Tis God's gift.

Be strong! 
Say not the days are evil—Who's to blame? 
And fold the hands and acquiesece—O shame! 
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, In God's name.

Be strong! 
It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong, 
How hard the battle goes, the day how long, 
Faint not, fight on!
Tomorrow comes the song.
   —Maltbie D. Babcock

STAY STRONG!

Night of Pure Faith

"The sun at last went down, and the swift, eastern night cast its heavy veil over the scene.

Worn out with the mental conflict, the watchings, and the exertions of the day, Abraham fell into a deep sleep, and in that sleep is soul was oppressed with a dense and dreadful darkness, such as almost stifled him, and lay like a nightmare upon his heart."

Do you understand something of the horror of that darkness?

When some terrible sorrow which seems so hard to reconcile with perfect love, crushes down upon the soul, wringing from it all its peaceful rest in the pitifulness of God, and launching it on a sea unlit by a ray of hope;

when unkindness, and cruelty maltreat the trusting heart, till it begins to doubt whether there be a God overhead who can see and still permit—these know something of the "horror of great darkness."

It is thus that human life is made up; brightness and gloom; shadow and sun;  long tracks of cloud, succeeded by brilliant glints of light, and amid all Divine justice is working out its own schemes, affecting others equally with the individual soul which seems the subject of special discipline.

Oh you who are filled with the horror of great darkness because of God's dealings with mankind, learn to trust that infallible wisdom, which is co-assessor with immutable justice; and know that He who passed through the horror of the darkness of Calvary, with the cry of forsakenness, is ready to bear you company through the valley of the shadow of death till you see the sun shining upon its further side.

Let us, by our Forerunner, send forward our anchor, Hope, within the veil that parts us from the unseen; where it will grapple in ground and will not yield, but hold until the day dawns, and we follow it into the haven guaranteed to us by God's immutable counsel.

—F. B. Meyer from Streams in the Desert

Photo courtesy of R. Foster!  Thank you!

Darkness

"May it not be the same with us in our weaving?

Sometimes it is very dark.

We cannot understand what we are doing. We do not see the web we are weaving.

We are not able to discover any beauty, any possible good in our experience.

Yet if we are faithful and fail not and faint not, we shall some day know that the most exquisite work of all our life was done in those days when it was so dark.

If you are in the deep shadows because of some strange, mysterious providence, do not be afraid.

Simply go on in faith and love, never doubting.

God is watching, and He will bring good and beauty out of all your pain and tears.

That is His Promise!

      --J. R. Miller

Stay Strong!

Oil Can

There is a story of an old man who carried a little can of oil with him everywhere he went, and if he passed through a door that squeaked, he poured a little oil on the hinges.

If a gate was hard to open, he oiled the latch.

And thus he passed through life lubricating all hard places and making it easier for those who came after him. 

People called him eccentric, queer, and cranky; but the old man went steadily on refilling his can of oil when it became empty, and oiled the hard places he found.

There are many lives that creak and grate harshly as they live day by day.

Nothing goes right with them.

They need lubricating with the oil of gladness, gentleness, or thoughtfulness.

Have you your own can of oil with you?

Be ready with your oil of helpfulness in the early morning to the one nearest you.

It may lubricate the whole day for him.

The oil, of good cheer to the downhearted one- -Oh, how much it may mean!

The word of courage to the despairing.

Speak it. 

Our lives touch others but once, perhaps, on the road of life; and then, mayhap, our ways diverge, never to meet again.

The oil of kindness has worn the sharp, hard edges off of many a sin-hardened life and left it soft and pliable and ready for the redeeming grace of the Saviour. 

A word spoken pleasantly is a large spot of sunshine on a sad heart.

Therefore, "Give others the sunshine, tell Jesus the rest."

We cannot know the grief
That men may borrow;
We cannot see the souls
Storm-swept by sorrow;
But love can shine upon the way
Today, tomorrow;

Let us be kind.
Upon the wheel of pain so many weary lives are broken,
We live in vain who give no tender token.

Let us be kind.

- Streams in the Desert

Stay Strong and use that "oil" can profusely!

Relevant

This past Sunday I was at Mass and as my son was the Altar Boy I was there very early.  I was thinking of so many things and friends and family - all the usual thoughts and prayers that we reflect upon so often.

When the mass arrived at the reading of the Gospel, I was so thrilled to hear one of my all time favorite passages being read!

I am still bewildered that this passage from the Gospel of Matthew still holds such relevance and truth to our current lives so many years after it was written.

If you didn't know this message came directly from the Bible you would think it came directly from the lips of Dale Carnegie himself!

For me it is impossible to read this passage and not be immediately comforted and gain a sense of peace from the logic and insight it lends to all of us as we go through the ridiculous gyrations and trials in our daily existence!

Perhaps it will do the same for any of you struggling with worry, fear or anxiety today!

It is my sincere hope that it does!

Stay Strong!

"This too shall pass" is also a promise and a fact!!

PS - Happy Birthday Tim OT and Barry K!!!  :)

Matthew 6:25-34

Do Not Worry

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 

30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 

31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Promise

Living a life of faith often requires us to leave things alone.

If we have completely entrusted something to God, we must keep our hands off of it.

He can guard it better then we can, and He does not need our help!

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes."
Ps. 37.7

Things in our lives may seem to be going all wrong, but God knows our circumstances better then we do.

And He will work at the perfect moment, if we will completely trust Him to work in His own way and in His own time.

Often there is nothing as godly as inactivity on our part, or nothing as harmful as restless working,

FOR GOD HAS PROMISED TO WORK HIS SOVEREIGN WILL!

  - Streams in the Desert

Picture inspired by Nick B - thank you!

Be Still

Their strength is to sit still. (Isa. 30:7).

In order really to know God, inward stillness is absolutely necessary.

I remember when I first learned this.

A time of great emergency had risen in my life, when every part of my being seemed to throb with anxiety, and when the necessity for immediate and vigorous action seemed overpowering;

and yet circumstances were such that I could do nothing, and the person who could, would not stir.

For a little while it seemed as if I must fly to pieces with the inward turmoil, when suddenly the still small voice whispered in the depths of my soul,

"Be still, and know that I am God."

The word was with power, and I hearkened.

I composed my body to perfect stillness, and I constrained my troubled spirit into quietness, and looked up and waited;

and then I did "know" that it was God, God even in the very emergency and in my helplessness to meet it; and I rested in Him.

It was an experience that I would not have missed for worlds; and I may add also, that out of this stillness SEEMED TO ARISE A POWER to deal with the emergency, that very soon brought it to a successful issue.

I learned then effectually that my "strength was to sit still."
    
       --Hannah Whitall Smith

Stay Strong - Help is always on the way but we need to ASK for it!