Eradicate hate! Hate has no place in our hearts. Just love each other!
Anti-Asian words Must come out of ignorance. Don’t “they” know we’re ONE?
We’re all God’s children… Created in His image. Authentically His!
Let your voice be heard. Speak with authenticity: Speak loudly with LOVE!
What can each of us do to help eradicate hate? What can we do to allow everyone to enjoy authentic freedom? What can we do to demonstrate our oneness? Embrace Authenticity!
Today is World Mental Health Day. How is your mental health?
The Bible is full of wisdom that applies to mental health. Romans 12:18 is a perfect example. Living in peace with everybody includes Living in Peace with YOURSELF!
We all get those days that we just don’t feel good enough. Everything goes wrong. For me, I go to the bible to read the words of God. His personal dialog for us is filled with encouragement, hope, and lessons from which we can learn. Here are my top ten verses that uplift and impact me when I’m at the lowest of lows:
1. Philippians 4:13:
I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.
2. Psalm 46:5
God is within her, she will not fall.
3. Proverbs 31:25
She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.
4. Psalm 28:76
The Lord is my strength and my shield.
5. 1 Corinthians 25:10
By the grace of God, I am what I am.
6. Romans 5:8
I loved you at your darkest.
7. Psalm 62:5-6
Only God gives inward peace, and I depend on Him. God alone is the mighty rock that keeps me safe, and he is the fortress where I feel secure.
8. 2 Timothy 1:7
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.
9. 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10. 2 Chronicles 20:15
The battle is not ours, but God’s.
Keys to Positive Mental Health
The link below to an article by Brittany Morgan offers ten keys to mental health that worked for her. I found the article to be greatly inspiring. Among her ten ideas that resonated most with me was #1:
1. Unfollowed ‘energy vampires’ on all social media platforms
This one might need a little explaining, so bear with me. An energy vampire is basically anyone who comes into your life and drains you of your positive energy. (Or, any energy in general, for that matter.) I’ve been unlucky enough, as I’m sure you have as well, to meet several of these energy vampires in real life. I’ve decided this past year to unfollow any and all energy vampires on all of my forms of social media, and you should, too.
Life is too short to expend any extra energy on perpetually negative people.
If you agree with her thinking on that idea, you may want to click the link below to see the other nine points she makes.
10 Things I’ve Done For My Mental Health Since Last Year’s World Mental Health Day
On Mental Health Day, I wish you great peace and joy. Let God take your cares.
Lift them up to Him And let them just float away; Replace them with love –
With LOVE for yourself – Remember your Creator Made you to be loved.
When LOVE is poured out, The empty cup returns full! God replaces it.
Remember you are a Child of God!!
Put your hand in the hand of the One who stilled the waters Put your hand in the hand of the One who calmed the seas Take a look at yourself and you can look at others differently Put your hand in the hand of the Man from Galilee!
Don’t miss this wonderful song from 1970… One of my favorites!!
Play it again!! Sing along! Put your hand in God’s hand And have a peace-filled World Mental Health Day.
Bye for now. See ya tomorrow.
Tell me how you’re doing today. Thanks for visitingJanBeek.
It’s easy for someone to tell you to forgive Blood’s not on their hands The ones who performed murderous acts There: Forgiveness demands
In today’s sermon at Madison Valley Presbyterian Church here in Ennis, Montana, our pastor, Steve Hundley, preached on the scripture found in Matthew 21:33-46. He acknowledged that it is a hard lesson to make sense of. The vineyard owner sent workers to harvest the grapes, and the tenants of the vineyard killed the workers.
The owner sent more workers and the tenants killed them, too.
In the midst of such horrendous acts, the bottom line is love. Love the murderers? Love the tenants who killed the people who came to harvest? Love the tenants who killed the owner’s son?
Realize that this parable is about God, the owner of all we have. It’s about the fact that we live in a world under the shadow of the “American Dream; Ownership.”
Maybe the message is “Nobody likes an absent landlord!” The tenants are the ones who worked hard to maintain that vineyard. Then, at harvest time, the owner expects to send others to reap the benefit of their hard work? No, the tenants hated the idea of others coming to reap the harvest!
When the son was sent… the parable is asking us to see that this was the Son, Jesus. He, too was killed. Killed by those who feared this Messiah was going to take what they thought they owned… the kingship, the ownership of the land and its people.
God did not create us to take ownership of God’s resources. We are the stewards, the caretakers. God’s vineyard is not for sale. We were not even given a lease with an option to buy!
The parable doesn’t tell us what the owner did to the tenants. It doesn’t say He finally left his mansion and went down and got even with the tenants somehow… what might the retribution look like?
It doesn’t tell us He forgave them for their murderous acts. We are left to finish the story ourselves. How would you finish it?
What is your idea of ownership? What is your understanding of our Owner’s Love? Pastor Steve reminded us that Our Owner longs for a connection with us. “God desires a relationship with us… He asks that we take care of this earth – His gifts to us – and one another… and that we give a portion back.” He asks that we love one another. He asks us to forgive one another – and to love our enemies. Wow! That’s a tall order!!
Pastor Steve concluded his sermon today by reminding us: “Our gifts are not our own. They are God’s, and we are given them to use for God’s Kingdom. We are the caretakers. God’s love always trumps God’s justice.“
Don’t laugh at others Who are faced with challenges. Seek to understand.
We are divided In this world that’s filled with hate. Why can’t we just love?
It’s intolerance And a lack of compassion That sows evil seeds.
People point fingers At those they see as different. Let’s see their beauty!
People point their guns At differing opinions. Let’s just live and learn!
Learn to see others As God’s children; we’re the same. Let’s make love “catching!”
I had not heard this song before Peter, Paul & Mary made it famous (I think it was back in the late 60s – early 70s). I love their version of it, but some of the words were hard to understand. Now that I have heard the song writer, Mark Willis, sing it, and I have seen the lyrics, I logged on to the Peter, Paul and Mary version and wondered why I ever had trouble understanding.
With their chosen video clips on this You.Tube, I dare you to listen and look and let it soak in and NOT cry!!
Oh, my dear blog friends, How can we bury the hate? Make love contagious!
Look at these dear ones – See into their hearts and souls Through Jesus glasses.
Look at your neighbors; Really see the ones in need. Then reach out in love!
Photo by Judita Tamou0161iu016bnaitu0117 on Pexels.com
My heart is hurting For the disenfranchised ones. What’s YOUR handicap?
I’m short… I’m dense… I barely matter at all… Don’t laugh at me!
See ya tomorrow. I’m headed to my follow-up appointment with my surgeon. You have a safe, healthy, and meaningful day… And see who’s out there who needs a helping hand.
“When a foreigner (stranger – xenox) resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself…”
Following the reading of that scripture this past Sunday in church, our pastor, Rev. Steve Hundley, spoke to us about the issue of strangers…. people who are different from us… folks we don’t know yet.
As usual, I took my sermon notes in poetry. This is what I heard him say through my poetic filter:
There’s been a barrage of news This week about how we can’t get along. Our Utopian society idea of equality Is a myth; we can’t seem to join in song.
Xenophobia – the fear of the stranger – Is rampant in our society today. But the Bible tells us clearly To love the stranger in every way.
Provide the stranger with food and care. Treat the stranger with hospitality. Yes, the stranger is different from us, But she or he is more like you and me.
When we fail to notice someone, When we treat them like they’re not, Remember this lesson from Leviticus: Love all people as you’ve been taught.
God can turn the world around One heart, heart-by-heart, at a time. God can take away our fear of strangers. “Different” is not a crime.
We may harbor an innate need to feel Superior to those around us, But Jesus taught, “No, you’re not better Than all the strangers who surround us.”
We all are strangers somewhere. We all are different and have need. But God says, “Love the stranger!” Love or hate? Which do you feed?
Mmmm… I had a hamburger for my lunch today. First hamburger I have had in ages. It was so delicious, oozing with cheese and yummy sauce. I would love to have shared it with you!
#hugs4happiness – and I’d love to share a hug with you, too. We’re not strangers! We’re fellow humans, traveling this earth together. And we’re doing the best we can to love one another. God says we gotta step up the pace, though. Show that love more fully.
Our love may be small and superficial compared to The wonderful, magnificent, perfect love of God. But, in our own small, imperfect way, we gotta keep trying. Love the stranger. In the process you know, you may be…
… entertaining angels!
The Bible tells us so!
Psalm 91:11
“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;…”
Beware! That stranger just might be God’s angel sent to guard you!
As we work to eradicate COVID By our adherence to following guides, May we work to eradicate prejudice By the way that we live daily lives.
May we live with respect for each other. May we notice and feel each one’s pain, And remember that everyone’s hurting. Share love and shelter – come walk with me
