“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all * pure, then * peace-loving, * considerate, * submissive, * full of mercy, and * good fruit, * impartial, and * sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”
Righteousness = free from guilt or sin; justifiable; genuine & excellent.
Hah! There are Bible coloring books, But they are for beginners who want to start Getting used to those Bible stories Before taking them to heart.
If you want an apple from the Teacher, Don’t search Google for the book. Just go to your own Bible, my friends. You’ll find wisdom there, if you look.
Don’t let it sit upon the shelf Gathering cobwebs, dust and dirt. Take it down, dust it off, and read. Gaining a little more wisdom never hurt!
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Kristyn Getty has such a pure and sweet voice. The words to this song are wise indeed. I hope you’ll take time to listen and enjoy. Gaining God’s wisdom is an every day need.
God bless you, dear friends. May His wisdom increase in you every day. May you dress yourself daily in His strength!
Sending you love, hugs, and best wishes for a happy, healthy, and wise Friday. JanBeek
Posted back in 2014, “The Power of God’s Love” was my response to reading Bob Goff’s book, “Love Does.” In today’s world here in the USA, one day away from one of the most crucial national elections in our democracy’s history, this message definitely is worth reblogging!!
May this message touch your heart strings and help you share a message of UNITY with those you encounter this week!
My 2014 Post:
Your hands are God’s heartststrings on earth. The love of God is demonstrated by YOUR love.
I just finished a New York Times bestseller by Bob Goff titled “Love Does.” My granddaughter loaned it to me at Christmas time with the highest of compliments: “I know you’ll enjoy this book, Grammy. I want you to read it and be sure to return it to me when I see you in February. I have other friends I want to loan it to, also.”
How wonderful that she knew this book would resonate with me. Chapter by chapter my husband and I enjoyed the book more than you can imagine. We vowed to read a chapter a day. There are 31 chapters. Some days we couldn’t put it down.
In 20 days we were finished with the book and now we are going back to reread some sections and internalize the messages. You will want to do the same. Here are a few excerpts:
“…make a difference by getting to the ‘do’ part of faith…love is never stationary…love doesn’t just keep thinking about it…Simply put, love does.”
“The world can make you think that love can be picked up at a garage sale or enveloped in a Hallmark card. But the kind of love that God created and demonstrated is a costly one because it involves sacrifice and presence.”
“What I’ve noticed… is that almost every time I type in the word love, it gets changed to live. It’s a kind of reminder to me… Fully loving and fully living are not only synonymous but the kind of life that Jesus invited us to be part of…”
So, I am off to be fully loving and fully living today. I will put God’s love into action today by sharing it with friends and looking for ways to live the way Bob Goff does. The subtitle on the cover of his book says, “Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World.” I want to be secretly incredible today. Don’t you?
Love Does. I like that title. It’s my walking orders. The power of God’s love is in your hands and mine. Let’s go DO God’s love today.
You with me?
If you are in the USA, be sure you have made your voice heard by casting your ballot.
God loves us… God loves you… I love you! Thanks for visiting JanBeek today.
Love is a gift from God. Love is an action word. Bob Goff wrote a book: “Love Does” – have you heard?
Have you heard the Word That tells us how to love? It’s in Corinthians 13 – Instructions from above.
In her post today, Caralyn of “Beauty Beyond Bones” explained her thoughts on the subject of the Source of our love. She remarked about the newest Time Magazine featuring a cover photo of Jesus. The caption, “Who Do You Say that I Am?” caused her to give us a wonderful Valentine’s Day answer:
Caralyn wrote:
“You are my best friend. The source and foundation of my recovery. You are my hope in hard times, my gratitude in the good, my comfort in fear, my joy in the everyday, my courage and fortitude. You are the fullness of my heart. You are the grace running through my veins. You are my everything.”
In my devotional time with In Touch, the daily readings by Charles Stanley, the subject of love was linked to our faith. Yes, it is within all things – because all things were made by our Creator – made with love and care! But the reflection on today’s scripture reminded us that “… accepting God’s love is a matter of faith. Even when you can’t feel it, believe it.“
1 John 4:7-10 “7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Love is a gift from God. We can do nothing to earn it – But it is ours to share!
Charles Stanley wrote: “No one is worthy of God’s grace and mercy… To consider yourself beyond the reach of grace is to trample on the Son’s sufficient sacrifice and the Father’s generous gift.”
Wear your love on your sleeve. Radiate love with each smile. Let love stay behind when you leave – It’s renewable – it’s your style!
Take my heart – and please don’t break it!
Love was make for you and me!
Thanks for visiting JanBeek today.
I send my love to you.
Happy Valentine’s Day! See ya tomorrow (God willing)
I could write a million reasons to be thankful, couldn’t you?
But if you had a Thankfulness Journal and each day you were only allowed space for five, what would they be today?
I am thankful for these five guys: Ed Platt, Bob Welna, Joe Stokes, Bob Beekman, and John Hauck. They put our stove back in the kitchen and hooked it up and moved our furniture back into the living and dining rooms. God bless ’em!!
2. I am thankful for our Ennis Arts Association and the program Cindy Owings presented to an appreciative audience at the Madison Valley Library today. Cindy’s book, The Purple Blanket, is available on Amazon. What fun it was to receive an autographed copy today!
3. I am so grateful for each new day… but especially the beautiful Madison Range that decorates our eastern landscape and the amazing sunrises that give us such wonderful views as we start the day.
4. I am so grateful for this fun-loving, faithful, generous, huggy character that I get to share my life with. Bob is the love of my life… and I am blessed to have had his companionship for these 60 years. We’ll celebrate our anniversary this Friday, thankful for each day God gives us together.
5. Listed last, but actually first in my life: I am thankful for God’s Word, my ability to read and comprehend it, the joy of sharing it with others, and the promises it holds for every day of life and beyond. Tonight eight of my friends who live in our local nursing home, The Manor, joined me for an hour of Bible Study. I love being with them and sharing selected scripture. So thankful that we can have that precious time together!
Do you have a Gratitude Journal? Do you take time each day to thank God for all your blessings?
If you do, you have discovered (as I have) that naming those reasons to be thankful has a way of magnifying the positive and shrinking your troubles.
Thanks for visiting JanBeek. See ya tomorrow (God willing) Hugs… Bee well!!
I’m thankful for this Attitude of Gratitude. Aren’t you? What five things would you list today?
For Christmas this year our son, Ty, and his wife, Monika, gave me this book.
The back cover has a an explanation of the author’s purpose.
Each day David Jeremiah, (the author of Turning Point another devotional I have been following for years), selects a scripture, and reflects on it.
Today’s reflection was especially meaningful to me:
It is trusting the Lord’s direction day by day in our lives together that has allowed Bob & me to remain ever faithful to one another for these 60 years!
This Friday we will celebrate our 60th anniversary.
This was last year on our 59th.
Here we are 60 years ago!
Yesterday we celebrated my granddaughter, Faith’s baby girl – due April 3rd – with a virtual baby shower. It was attended by about 20 friends from all over this part of our world – from Alaska and Hawaii to NY and across to CA – and states like ours (Montana) in between.
Our daughter-in-law, Monika (Faith’s mom) did a wonderful job researching ahead of time, planning, inviting, and coordinating the event. She linked in to an app that invited her to post a baby picture of the prospective mom as a baby and the prospective dad as a baby at the same age. Then the app blended the two parents and showed what the baby might look like if she favored the mom more. Another picture showed what she’ll look like if she favors dad’s side more.
Because Faith and Kyle actually resembled one another as babies, the two renditions were quite similar. That was fun!
Another activity had all the participants answering questions about the honored couple. The running scores were exhibited and the “winners” were awarded Amazon gift certificates. I didn’t participate in that… couldn’t figure out how to access the game screen! So much for technological prowess!! But folks who engaged had a lot of fun with it.
We were able see Faith & Kyle virtually unwrap each of their gifts, as each told us a little about the gift-giver… and because we were all on a ZOOM share screen, we could see each other. I was terribly impressed with Monika who was able to put all this together and move the activities along at a good pace.
My blog yesterday, “A Virtual Baby Shower,” showed you this expectant mom & dad. Here’s another photo of them:
Faith & Kyle McSparron
I know you join me in wishing them a happy, healthy pregnancy. Of course, I will share pictures of their baby girl with you when she is born in April.
Meantime, my prayer for them is that they remain “ever faithful” to one another – and are loving, devoted parents when their new little bundle arrives. God bless Faith & Kyle!!
Bee well my friends. Thanks for visiting JanBeek. I’ll see you tomorrow (God willing) What are your Tuesday plans?
Hugs to you!
Oh, before I say good-bye, Here’s a tribute to this age-old tradition: marriage!!
“What Book Will You Read Next?” was the Bloganuary prompt yesterday. I was away from my computer all day, so I didn’t get a chance to answer it then. But here is my answer – a day late:
The book next on my reading list is Amanda Gorman’s “Call Us What We Carry.” Amanda is the young lady who wrote the poem that she read at the 2021 USA Presidential inauguration, “The Hill We Climb.” Her book of poems “captures a shipwrecked moment in time and transforms it into a lyric of hope and healing.” According to the inside flap of the book, “This book is a message in a bottle. This book is a letter. This book does not let up.” I loved Gorman’s poem for the inauguration message last year. I know I am going to enjoy delving deeper into her poetic prowess!
Where would we be without the helpers in our lives? Yesterday a young lady came and helped me clean my house. Climbing ladders to get to light fixtures and getting down on my hands and knees to do floors is just not in the cards for this 82-year-old body any more. God bless my helper!
While I was getting help inside, Bob had two helpers out in the yard. Like my inability to climb ladders and spend time on my knees, Bob has discovered that his body has some new limitations, too. It’s just not wise for him to try to trim the trees or do all the weeding and hedging on his own. Thank God for the young, strong helpers who are willing to come and lend a hand!
Our daughter, DeAna, in Switzerland, had need of repair this week. She had polyps in her uterus. Thank God, they were benign, but they needed to be removed. Thanks to the “helper” who used her gold dust to repair/scrape De’s uterus and bring her back to full health… more beautiful than ever!
Just as we need help with the physical work as we add years to our bodies, so do we need help with tasks that are beyond our skill levels.
Today our daughter, Laina, discovered a problem she couldn’t fix. A neighbor’s tree had lost a limb during a recent storm, and the limb crashed through her guest bedroom window. With the help of a gracious and talented helper, she now has a new double-paned glass. Thank God for helpers!
I am reading a book titled, “Life is Messy” by Matthew Kelly. In it he describes the Japanese art of Kintsugi. It is repairing broken objects with glue that has gold in it.
He wrote, “When a vase or bowl or cup is broken, artists gather up the broken pieces and glue them back together. …They mix gold dust with the glue. They don’t try to hide the cracks. They own them, honor them, even accentuate them.”
Matthew Kelly’s point in bringing in the concept of Kintsugi is that we all are broken and in need of repair.
He asks the question, “Can someone who has been broken be healed, and become more beautiful and more lovable than every before?”
And his resounding YES is illustrated by these repaired bowls.
He makes this point very clear: “We are each other’s wounded healers. We posses the gold dust needed to glue other people back together, making them more beautiful and lovable than ever.”
Where would we be without the helpers in our lives? Our broken souls would remain broken… and Our sad hearts would break in two… without those who love us with their gold dust of love that glues us back together again!
Embrace Helpers… Those who help us clean, Those who help us garden, Those who repair our cars or fix our broken windows… Those who help us heal… God bless them all!
God bless YOU for being a helper.
I made sandwiches for those young people who were out there helping Bob with his yard work. We each can do our part – we all can be helpers!
How did you use your gold dust to help someone else today?
“ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
My Prayer for Today
“Gracious God, how grateful I am to rest secure in Your grip forever.”
God’s Not Gonna Lose Me
In today’s devotional time, Daily Guideposts 2021 reminded me that while I may misplace my sunglasses or my phone occasionally, God never misplaces me!
In his comments, Bill Giovannetti recalled a time when his daughter asked him, “What if I lost God? Or what if God lost me?”
Her younger brother responded, “Right, Josie, you’re the only person in the whole wide world that God forgot about!”
Reading Romans 8:38-39 together, Bill and his son reassured Josie and asked her, “If God keeps His Word, what is that verse telling you?”
“It’s telling me God never loses His sunglasses,” she said, “Or me!”
Today Bob & I celebrated my birthday (I’ll match Bob’s age – and be 82 tomorrow). Our hands certainly show the wear and tear of work and years!
But, like that hold God has on us, we’ve got a grip on one another – and we’re not letting go!
GG (Great Grandma Jan) with Xander
Taking a clue from us and God, Xander’s got a grip on his GreatGrandma Jan (GG – that’s me!) and he’s not letting go!
Sienna & Hope (my great-granddaughter and my granddaughter)
My great-granddaughter, Sienna, gets a grip on her mommy, my granddaughter, Hope. When children have a hold on loving, devoted parents, God smiles.
Sienna with Ty
It’s a double blessings when Grandpa gets down on the floor with his granddaughter. Our son Ty helped Sienna learn how to get a grip on puzzle skills.
Sienna with Monika
Children are blessed indeed when they have a grandma who reads to them. Sienna gets a grip on what books are all about with Grandma Monika’s help.
Hope, TazE, Sienna, and me
How special to get a grip on my great-granddaughter, Sienna, and her mommy, Hope … while they get a grip on TazE, our Boston Terrier!
Monika, Sienna, Hope and Bob
Not every family has the privilege of gathering 4 generations together! Get a grip on longevity … and the joy of embracing great-grandpa!
Xander and TazE
Such fun to see TazE getting along so well with Xander!
Xander decided he needed to get a grip on those puzzle skills, too.
Monika and Hope with Sienna & Xander… They sang Happy Birthday to help me get a grip on turning a year older. Not older… just more mature, right? So nice!
Ty & Monika brought their big dog, Nakota…
… and TazE had trouble getting a grip on having such a big buddy!
She was exhausted! Time to get under the table and get a grip on some rest!
The word “Race” implies competition when you “Run the Race.” But life lived in competition rather than collaboration is a lonely one. When I was an elementary school principal back in the 1980’s, I wrote our school theme song using the California Poppies tune.
The California Poppies song went like this:
“Poppies, golden poppies, gleaming in the sun, Closing up at evening when the day is done. Pride of California, flower of our state, Growing from the mountains to the Golden Gate.”
The words I wrote for our Caswell Elementary School in California were:
We’re the Caswell Cougars. We are Number One! Green and yellow banners Waving in the sun. Caswell is a place for Learning and for fun. We’re the Caswell Cougars; We are Number One!”
One of my fellow principals objected to our song. She felt I was in competition with her school. I responded, “There’s room at the top for more than one. Come up and join us!”
As I have journeyed through this life, I am going and growing. I am understanding better where my colleague was coming from.
Thirty years later I can look back And I can see my competitive spirit At work in that school song… Unintended yes, but obvious to others.
If life is viewed as a race, then there is room for only one at the top. The race goes to the swiftest. But a journey has room for many.
Hold my hand as we walk this path. Pray with me. stay by my side. Soon enough we will reach the mountain top And when we do, celebrate with me.
Today Bob & I are journeying to Oregon where we will join his sister and her family. We will gather to give back to one another The love we have shared on this life’s journey.
We will hear the echo of Bonnie’s husband As their daughter and son speak of the ways Their dad sent out, sowed, and radiated love During his 86 years here on this earth.
As we travel today, Bob and I acknowledge The grace of God that has allowed us to share These six decades with one another – And we take not one of those chapters for granted.
Stan Hunt’s chapters on earth have ended, But we know his story doesn’t end here. We know death is not an end to our journey; It is a beginning of our eternal life – forever with our Lord.
We will share, hug, and weep for our loss, And we will assure one another of the faith we have. We know we will see one another in eternity. We will continue the journey – writing our masterpiece!
Have a beautiful Sunday, my friends. I send you my love as we journey this life together.
