Spreading love, joy, peace, faith & unity

Posts tagged ‘judgment’

Reblog #2 – Reflections

NanoPoblano2022 asked us to reblog an old post during this month of November. One a day. I’m going to try to do that.

I added this image to the 2012 post. Back then, I did not understand how to use WordPress to its greatest advantage with memes and images that enhanced the words. My purpose in blogging today remains the same a it was a decade ago: to encourage love, joy, peace, faith, and unity among my blogging friends and to inspire us all to live a happier, more purpose-filled life.

My 2012 post:

.

“My confession, admission, and plea to God today is this:

None of us lives to just self alone;
Each of us lives for the other.
Whatever we do, be it rosy or blue,
Reflects on our sister and brother.

None of us sits on the judgment seat.
We’re not assigned to decide
If someone’s dull or bright, wrong or right,
Sending them to a corner to hide.

None of us lives a faultless life,
Though we try our utmost to seek
The humble hill to fulfill Your will
In our deeds and the words we speak.

We stumble and fall and fail to be
Examples of the upright and strong.
Try as we may, we know that someday
We’ll have to account for each wrong.

We’ll each have to stand before Your judgment seat
And review how we’ve spent every minute.
So, Lord, help us give every day that we live
All the love and the grace You put in it.

Help us to generously welcome all
To be part of whatever we do.
None of us lives to ourselves alone;
We always reflect on You.

Amen?

Amen!”

Happy Reblogging, my friends.
See you tomorrow.

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Bible Lessons, blessings, blogging, Faith, friendship, Giving, God, life, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, Poetry, self-esteem, Serving One Another, Sharing

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Embrace Your Journey

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.

See ya tomorrow (God willing),
JanBeek

Category:

Aging Gracefully, Faith, Family, Giving, God, life, Life and Death, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, peace, relationships, Travel

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Head-on Collision

black vehicle steering wheel

Photo by mali maeder on Pexels.com

 

This week a young life was lost. Tragically, the brother of a dear friend who goes ATVing with us was killed in a two-car accident right here in our Madison Valley. He worked in our local nursing home. A compassionate, caring, handsome young man with so much to give. All loss hurts, but untimely death is so devastating.

I was looking forward to introducing him to our grandson who is coming from Switzerland next month to live with us for awhile. I know they would have been fast friends.

My heart is hurting. And especially for the family and friends he leaves behind. Pray for his brother, Joe, and the residents and staff at our nursing home, will you? I know they are grieving. I wish I could help.

The following Haiku was prompted by this tragedy:

One moment in time

Never to return again

So treasure each breath

.

God bless you, my blogging friends. Live in the NOW. Love, Laugh, and treasure one another. Live in love and gratitude. We just never know what each day will bring.

 

Category:

Haiku, Heartache, Life and Death, Love, prayer

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Heartache

The Hearings

The heartache

Of yesterday’s

Dying day

Will live on

In our memories

As cinders

In the heap

Of society’s sorrows.

Category:

Heartache, Life's Challenges, truth

Tagged with:

Judging

blur close up focus gavel

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

 

Quick to make judgments?

Try stepping outside yourself

And be the other.

Category:

Haiku, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love

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Absconded

My country has been taken

Prisoner as it makes

Prisoners of children.

Who absconded with

My country and turned

Its southern border into

A Hellhole?

What can we do,

What must we do

To take it back?

Category:

children, Family, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, respect

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One-of-a-Kind Gem

One-of-a-Kind Gem

If I measure me against me,

I could be six foot three.

If I measure me against YOU,

I’m not even two foot two!

So, who do I use?

What feet do I choose?

Who carries my blues?

Who walks in my shoes?

“No one,” You say?

God took His soft clay

And molded a shape –

Unique! Full of play!

God gifted your soul

Full of treasure untold.

Then He threw out the mold.

You’re more precious than gold.

Who do I measure myself against then?

Do I look at my friends, compare me with them?

“No one,” God smiles.  “I’ll say it again,

You’re a unique,  one-of-a-kind gem!”

http://www.thoseshoes.com/index.html

Category:

Spiritual Gifts

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Love the Swallows?

Our resident bluebirds sit on their box and preen. They flit to a nearby branch and soak in the springtime. His blue feathers are brilliant in the early morning sunshine. Hers are more subdued. Look closely, she has blue plumage tucked in there, too. I love them. It’s wonderful to watch their nest building process and to anticipate their box filled with tiny blue eggs. The promise of new life always excites me.

But the swallows? Why do they dive-bomb the happy couple? Why do they try to steal the box? Go find a home of your own, swallows! We built this one for the bluebirds.

Is my attitude toward the swallows indicative of other phases of my life? It’s easy to love the ones for whom we have prepared a place, the ones we are expecting, the beautiful people in our lives – blue-plumed, graceful, promising new life. But what about life’s swallows? The gray and dismal creatures who are so needy they seem to suck life out of things, take life from others, dive-bomb our tranquility with their uninvited presence, contribute nothing in return – what about them? Can I love the swallows? Should I?

How?

Why?

Category:

Love

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Gasp!

All of my son’s four children have been home schooled.  They are precious angels, sent to us from Heaven for sure! Unable to give birth to biological children, my dear son and his wife found adoption was their calling. It has not been an easy route, but parenting never is! All children come with “their own baggage” – but if we choose to adopt, sometimes the “baggage” – not of our own making – can be especially challenging. In the case of our two oldest grandchildren, their biological mother took drugs and drank alcohol while she carried them. As a result, some brain and physiological damage occurred. Overcoming some of the obstacles to learning has taken all the skill, love, talent, and patience the children and their adoptive parents could muster. My oldest granddaughter just graduated from high school. I was so proud of her as she prepared for and delivered her speech thanking her family, friends, and teachers for their love and support. Each graduate was asked to tell what they plan to do next with their life. Most told what college they would attend. When my granddaughter said, “I have applied to join the Navy,” there was an audible gasp in the audience. Hmmm…. why the gasp? Let’s think about our military. Let’s ask ourselves why – with all the perks it offers to our young people – many do not see it as a viable option. Traditional college is not for everyone. The Navy may be just the route my granddaughter needs in order to move forward with her life. Don’t gasp, folks. Applaud!!

Category:

Love

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Love THAT Neighbor!!

Who is the neighbor you find the most challenging? It’s not the one who loves you back. It’s not the one who reciprocates with a meal invitation or the one who waters your plants for you when you’re off on a trip. It’s not the neighbor across the state or the country or the world who sends you a Christmas card or calls you once a year. It’s the one who doesn’t love you back. The one who doesn’t reciprocate. The one who doesn’t seem to know how to reach out to others. The one who needs us to love them the most – expecting (and receiving) nothing in return. Do you have such a neighbor? How do we love THAT neighbor??  I Cor.13:4-7 tells me how (In Eugene Peterson’s “The Message”).

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

When I love my neighbors with THAT kind of love, keeping my ears tuned to God, asking for God’s help discerning the best way to help THAT neighbor, then I can be sensitive and listen with my heart. I can give while preserving the dignity of the recipient. I can try to deliver to THAT neighbor a much-needed touch of God’s grace.

Most gracious God, who gives me enough grace to feel it overflowing, teach me to share. Help me love THAT neighbor Your Way.

Amen? Amen!

Category:

Love

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