How appropriate for Valentines week :) I pray your hearts are touched and that love, will grow…..
This is a continuation of The Invitation, a previously posted blog challenge. We are now on Day 10. Please feel free to read the other days and start at anytime! Incorporate this challenge to fit you! Weekly, monthly, daily however it will work for you! All material is original blog material written by Dixie. ( I just borrowed the idea ;) Scripture suggestions are from my personal study, all thoughts and challenges are from my personal history and my future as I too continue to strive for more closeness to Christ.
Thought for the day: if we do not love God and neighbor, whatever else we do will be of little eternal consequence. Every one on the earth, regardless of who they are and what their choices are, is a child of God; and God loves his children unconditionally, it’s just that simple. But, how do we love? Do we love in return, are we generally accepting of others, regardless of their choices or circumstances? Or do we find ourselves with resentment, anger, hatred, judgments and the like…..We profess to love God, that is true, however, the real problem lies in loving others, even our enemies. In order to walk with Jesus, in order to be like him, we must learn to be unconditional, we must learn to love…..
This is a continuation of The Invitation, a previously posted blog challenge. We are now on Day 10. Please feel free to read the other days and start at anytime! Incorporate this challenge to fit you! Weekly, monthly, daily however it will work for you! All material is original blog material written by Dixie. ( I just borrowed the idea ;) Scripture suggestions are from my personal study, all thoughts and challenges are from my personal history and my future as I too continue to strive for more closeness to Christ.
Thought for the day: if we do not love God and neighbor, whatever else we do will be of little eternal consequence. Every one on the earth, regardless of who they are and what their choices are, is a child of God; and God loves his children unconditionally, it’s just that simple. But, how do we love? Do we love in return, are we generally accepting of others, regardless of their choices or circumstances? Or do we find ourselves with resentment, anger, hatred, judgments and the like…..We profess to love God, that is true, however, the real problem lies in loving others, even our enemies. In order to walk with Jesus, in order to be like him, we must learn to be unconditional, we must learn to love…..
Love is not just an attribute, it is a direct
commandment. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. “This is the first and great commandment.
“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself. “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt. 22:37–40; see also Gal. 5:14).
Penny in the shoe: as you feel the penny
in your shoe today, let it help you to remember to speak, act and think
as Christ, in all your dealings, at work, at home, in traffic, for all
things and all the time.
Challenge for the day: Hold your tongue,
change your thoughts, stop being selfish, don’t judge, think before you
act, say or do anything that does not promote postiveness, not just with
our neighbors and friends but let us practice at home as well, for
sometimes, it is harder at home than anywhere…..WALK in the shoes of
Christ……
“Hatred is the antithesis of love and Lucifer is its chief
perpetrator. It is he, the enemy of all righteousness and the father of
contention, who, “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour” Don’t let him win, let us open our hearts and love. Early one
morning in Bucharest, as I jogged through Cismigiu Park, I observed an
old tree which was struggling to give new branches—to give new life. The
symbol of life is to give. We give so much to family and friends and to
community and Church that at times we, as the old tree, may think that
life is too difficult—that constantly giving is a burden too heavy to
bear. We may think that it would be easier to give up and to do only
that which the natural man does. But we should not and will not quit.
Why? Because we must continue to give, just like Christ and the old tree
gave. As we give just a little bit, let us think of Him who gave His
life that we might live.” Elder Robert F. Orton
suggested Scripture study: ( reading-made easy, just click ) 1 Jn. 4:21, 20
Jornaling Thought: Do I have a
predetermined attitude toward certain people? Do I have the ability to
show ALL my fellow-men unconditional love?
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13.)
“If a single man achieves the highest kind of love,” wrote
Mahatma Gandhi, “it will be sufficient to neutralize the hate of
millions.” (Hermann Hagedorn, Prophet in the Wilderness: The Story of Albert Schweitzer, New York: MacMillan Co., 1948, title page.)
The Solution was Love- Thomas S Monson.
One winter day as Christmas approached, I thought
back to an experience from my boyhood. I was just 11. Our Primary
president, Melissa, was an older and loving gray-haired lady. One day at
Primary, Melissa asked me to stay behind and visit with her. There the
two of us sat in the otherwise empty chapel. She placed her arm about my
shoulder and began to cry. Surprised, I asked her why she was crying.
She replied: “I don’t seem to be able to encourage the Trail Builder
boys to be reverent during the opening exercises of Primary. Would you
be willing to help me, Tommy?” I promised her I would. Strangely to me,
but not to Melissa, that ended any problem of reverence in that Primary.
She had gone to the source of the problem—me. The solution was love.
The years flew by. Marvelous Melissa, now in her
nineties, lived in a nursing facility in the northwest part of Salt Lake
City. Just before Christmas I determined to visit my beloved Primary
president. Over the car radio, I heard the song “Hark! the Herald Angels
Sing.” I reflected on the visit made by wise men those long years ago.
They brought gifts of gold, of frankincense, and of myrrh. I brought
only the gift of love and a desire to say “Thank you.”
I found Melissa in the lunchroom. She stared at her
plate of food, teasing it with the fork she held in her aged hand. Not a
bite did she eat. As I spoke to her, my words were met with a benign
but blank stare. I took the fork in hand and began to feed Melissa,
talking all the time I did so about her service to boys and girls as a
Primary worker. There wasn’t so much as a glimmer of recognition, far
less a spoken word. Two other residents of the nursing home gazed at me
with puzzled expressions. At last they spoke, saying: “She doesn’t know
anyone, even her own family. She hasn’t said a word in all the years
she’s been here.”
Lunch ended. My one-sided conversation wound down. I
stood to leave. I held her frail hand in mine, gazed into her wrinkled
but beautiful countenance, and said: “God bless you, Melissa. Merry
Christmas.” Without warning, she spoke the words: “I know you. You’re
Tommy Monson, my Primary boy. How I love you.” She pressed my hand to
her lips and bestowed on it the kiss of love. Tears coursed down her
cheeks and bathed our clasped hands. Those hands, that day, were
hallowed by heaven and graced by God. The herald angels did sing.
Outside the sky was blue—azure blue. The air was cool—crispy cool. The
snow was white—crystal white. The words of the Master seemed to have a
personal meaning never before fully felt: “Woman, behold thy son!” And
to His disciple, “Behold thy mother!” (John 19:26–27).
With Sincere Love,
Dixie…..
