A woman hired a carpenter to help her restore an old farmhouse, and he had just finished a rough first day on the job: a flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric drill quit, and his ancient one ton truck refused to start. While she drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited her in to meet his family. As they walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands.
When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles, and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.
Afterward, he walked back to the car. They passed the tree, and her curiosity got the better of her. She asked him about what she had seen him do earlier. "Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure; those troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So, I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning, I pick them up again. Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."
--Author Unknown
Showing posts with label divine filiation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label divine filiation. Show all posts
Story of the Scanner
Last December, I met two Vietnamese Nuns at Saint Ignatius Church after a 7:00 a.m. Mass. They had come to Singapore to study English and were residing with a married couple from the parish.
I had just replaced my scanner because I needed one that could print in colour and make copies as well. My old scanner was as good as new, so I wasn’t about to dump it in the rubbish bin.
I asked a friend if she knew of a charitable organization in Singapore who could use a scanner. Her reply was that scanners now were so affordable and that they came with all the latest trimmings too. No one in Singapore would want a “simple” scanner.
I mentioned my scanner to the two Vietnamese Sisters and asked if they had need of it. The Sisters looked at each other in amazement. I wondered why. Then one of them excitedly said: “Oh this is an answer to our prayers! Do you know how far I have to ride on my little scooter to get something scanned? Fifty kilometres!! The scanner has now found a home in Vietnam with the Daughters of Mary Immaculate.
And guess what? When cleaning the scanner before packing it up, I discovered it had a coloured printer and could copy as well. I did not need to buy a new scanner. “Oh happy fault!” It was meant to be. Now the Sisters can print in colour and copy too.
-- Jacquie Webb
I had just replaced my scanner because I needed one that could print in colour and make copies as well. My old scanner was as good as new, so I wasn’t about to dump it in the rubbish bin.
I asked a friend if she knew of a charitable organization in Singapore who could use a scanner. Her reply was that scanners now were so affordable and that they came with all the latest trimmings too. No one in Singapore would want a “simple” scanner.
I mentioned my scanner to the two Vietnamese Sisters and asked if they had need of it. The Sisters looked at each other in amazement. I wondered why. Then one of them excitedly said: “Oh this is an answer to our prayers! Do you know how far I have to ride on my little scooter to get something scanned? Fifty kilometres!! The scanner has now found a home in Vietnam with the Daughters of Mary Immaculate.
And guess what? When cleaning the scanner before packing it up, I discovered it had a coloured printer and could copy as well. I did not need to buy a new scanner. “Oh happy fault!” It was meant to be. Now the Sisters can print in colour and copy too.
-- Jacquie Webb
HOW MYSTERIOUS HIS WAYS!
This was written by a Metro Denver Hospice Physician:
I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd. , and the car started to choke and splutter and die - I barely managed to coast into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck. It wouldn't even turn over. Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the quickie mart building, and it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a gas pump, so I got out to see if
she was okay.
When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel.
At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.
I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying 'I don't want my kids to see me crying,' so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, 'And you were praying?' That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, 'He heard you, and He sent me.'
I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked to the next door McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.
She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City . Her boyfriend left 2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay rent Jan. 1, and finally in desperation had finally called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years. They lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there.
So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there.
I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, 'So, are you like an angel or something?'
This definitely made me cry. I said, 'Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people.'
It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle. And of course, you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me home with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic won't find anything wrong.
Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter of their wings...
Psalms 55:22 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.'
I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd. , and the car started to choke and splutter and die - I barely managed to coast into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck. It wouldn't even turn over. Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the quickie mart building, and it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a gas pump, so I got out to see if
she was okay.
When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel.
At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.
I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying 'I don't want my kids to see me crying,' so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, 'And you were praying?' That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, 'He heard you, and He sent me.'
I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked to the next door McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.
She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City . Her boyfriend left 2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay rent Jan. 1, and finally in desperation had finally called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years. They lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there.
So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there.
I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, 'So, are you like an angel or something?'
This definitely made me cry. I said, 'Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people.'
It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle. And of course, you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me home with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic won't find anything wrong.
Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter of their wings...
Psalms 55:22 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.'
Discovering your "belovedness"
Henri Nouwen was a successful university professor, writer, and lecturer. At the height of his career, he left the prestigious world of Harvard to live and work among the mentally handicapped and seriously disabled people at the L’Arche community in Toronto. From the competitive world of the best and brightest, he moved to powerless people of few words, considered marginal to society.
The move changed Nouwen’s life.
“These broken, wounded, and completely unpretentious people forced me to let go of my relevant self,” he later wrote, “the self that can do things, show things, prove things, build things—and forced me to reclaim that unadorned self in which I am completely vulnerable, open to receive and give love regardless of any accomplishments.”
Living among the poor and powerless, Nouwen rediscovered his true identity.
In our culture, my personal identity typically is measured by what I produce, my position in the workplace, the wealth I accumulate, my social status. But all the externals beg the question: Who am I? What gives my life ultimate value and meaning?
Christian faith offers a counter-cultural answer to these questions by saying our worth and identity come not from ourselves or what we do, but from God.
At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized. "As he came up out of the water, a voice from heaven said, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased' ” (Mark 1:11, NRSV).
Before Jesus had said or done anything in his ministry, the heavenly voice said, “You are my Beloved.”
Other voices tell us our identity is found in what we do or achieve, but the same voice that spoke to Jesus at his baptism says to each of us: “You are my beloved.”
Throughout the Bible, God’s voice speaks in many ways, inviting people to live in relationship with The Holy. Isaiah gives us this word from the Lord: “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior . . . You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you” (Isaiah 43:3–4). The apostle Paul says that by faith “we are children of God, and if children, then . . . joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16–17).
Underlying pain and loneliness, compulsive behavior, the need to perform, is the fear that our lives will have no meaning. But identity ultimately is not found in jobs or success, in what we do or accomplish. Our true identity lies in the fact that God says to each of us, “I love you; you are my beloved child.”
This gift God offers us, the gift of “belovedness,” can change us forever. To hear the voice of the Holy and to live as beloved children of God infuses new meaning into our lives, relationships, and the work we do each day.
(Gary Klingsporn, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewLibrary.asp?LibraryID=122)
The move changed Nouwen’s life.
“These broken, wounded, and completely unpretentious people forced me to let go of my relevant self,” he later wrote, “the self that can do things, show things, prove things, build things—and forced me to reclaim that unadorned self in which I am completely vulnerable, open to receive and give love regardless of any accomplishments.”
Living among the poor and powerless, Nouwen rediscovered his true identity.
In our culture, my personal identity typically is measured by what I produce, my position in the workplace, the wealth I accumulate, my social status. But all the externals beg the question: Who am I? What gives my life ultimate value and meaning?
Christian faith offers a counter-cultural answer to these questions by saying our worth and identity come not from ourselves or what we do, but from God.
At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized. "As he came up out of the water, a voice from heaven said, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased' ” (Mark 1:11, NRSV).
Before Jesus had said or done anything in his ministry, the heavenly voice said, “You are my Beloved.”
Other voices tell us our identity is found in what we do or achieve, but the same voice that spoke to Jesus at his baptism says to each of us: “You are my beloved.”
Throughout the Bible, God’s voice speaks in many ways, inviting people to live in relationship with The Holy. Isaiah gives us this word from the Lord: “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior . . . You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you” (Isaiah 43:3–4). The apostle Paul says that by faith “we are children of God, and if children, then . . . joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16–17).
Underlying pain and loneliness, compulsive behavior, the need to perform, is the fear that our lives will have no meaning. But identity ultimately is not found in jobs or success, in what we do or accomplish. Our true identity lies in the fact that God says to each of us, “I love you; you are my beloved child.”
This gift God offers us, the gift of “belovedness,” can change us forever. To hear the voice of the Holy and to live as beloved children of God infuses new meaning into our lives, relationships, and the work we do each day.
(Gary Klingsporn, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewLibrary.asp?LibraryID=122)
Your Best Behaviour
When Sherry was little, as she'd leave home, her parents would say, "Be on your best behavior!" Sherry knew what that meant: show good manners, be kind, share what you have . . . don't embarrass the family!
Our Heavenly Father also sends us out with instructions. Love God and your neighbor. Treat people as you want them to treat you. Accept difficulties with joy. When the going gets tough, trust God. And while our parents may have been thinking about our outward behavior, God is concerned with our hearts.
This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. Who said life doesn't come with instructions? It's just that God's instructions tell us not what to do, but who to BE . . . in the high calling of our daily work.
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matt. 5:14)
(Howard Butt, The High Calling of our Daily Work, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=381&WID=366&T=H&SID=12675)
Our Heavenly Father also sends us out with instructions. Love God and your neighbor. Treat people as you want them to treat you. Accept difficulties with joy. When the going gets tough, trust God. And while our parents may have been thinking about our outward behavior, God is concerned with our hearts.
This is Howard Butt, Jr., of Laity Lodge. Who said life doesn't come with instructions? It's just that God's instructions tell us not what to do, but who to BE . . . in the high calling of our daily work.
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matt. 5:14)
(Howard Butt, The High Calling of our Daily Work, http://www.thehighcalling.org/Library/ViewMessage.asp?MessageID=381&WID=366&T=H&SID=12675)
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