I remember a song from an audio tape I bought many years ago. I am not sure I know all the words but the chorus went like this;
A thankful heart
Creates a thankful home,
Filled with love and understanding
So that grace can abound
A thankful heart
Will break down the walls of pride
Overcoming every problem
Should begin with a thankful heart
This song has encouraged me over the years to be thankful even when it seems things around me don't look good.
I am sure that as the United States of America celebrated thanksgiving last week, there would be many who would find it difficult to give thanks.
For those living in Africa, many are groaning under the harsh economic conditions in their countries and it is so difficult to find reason to be thankful in the face...
Posts - November 2010
God is a loving Father. All His acts towards us are motivated by His love for us. From our human and limited knowledge of love, we often think that love denotes sweet and lovely things happening to us.
Consider a newly wedded couple. They feel so much in love and it would seem that nothing could go wrong between them. After a while, they start noticing things about each other they don’t like and they begin to react to those things, in an effort to correct each other’s mistakes or behaviour considered offensive.
This causes friction and then doubts about their love for each other sets in. Before long, and if care is not taken, the love they had for each other gradually erodes until it gets to the point where they no longer find satisfaction with one anothe...
I love my children very much and I try within my ability to give them what they need, when they need it. In doing this however, I also realize that children grow up to be responsible adults when they are taught to be responsible. This is usually where the problem lies.
Every stage of a child’s life is a learning process. As he comes in contact with the world around him, he learns new things both good and bad. This is why good parents do all they can to teach their children the difference between what is good and what is bad. Some children understand why daddy and mummy do not like them doing certain things while others keep doing those things anyway because they either don’t understand why they can’t or the parents on...
Every stage of a child’s life is a learning process. As he comes in contact with the world around him, he learns new things both good and bad. This is why good parents do all they can to teach their children the difference between what is good and what is bad. Some children understand why daddy and mummy do not like them doing certain things while others keep doing those things anyway because they either don’t understand why they can’t or the parents on...
You probably get discouraged about events in the news too. Terrorism. Family violence. Unemployment. Some of the scary news may even be closer to home than the newspaper. Health problems. Damaged personal relationships. Friction among people in your church. It can be discouraging.
And just whose responsibility is it to make things better? If your first thought is God, I would not propose to correct you. I would only remind you that God acts in this world through human agents.
There is an old Hasidic story about a rabbi and his students. As they walked along one day, the rabbi asked, "How can we know the hour of dawn - the time at which the night ends and the day begins?"
No one ventured an immediate answer, so they continued to walk. Then one of the rabbi's disciples offere...
And just whose responsibility is it to make things better? If your first thought is God, I would not propose to correct you. I would only remind you that God acts in this world through human agents.
There is an old Hasidic story about a rabbi and his students. As they walked along one day, the rabbi asked, "How can we know the hour of dawn - the time at which the night ends and the day begins?"
No one ventured an immediate answer, so they continued to walk. Then one of the rabbi's disciples offere...
