21st Feb,2011 AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE:

 Psalms 116:12, 17: “What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me......I will sacrifice a thank offering to you …..”

GRATITUDE IS THE MEMORY OF THE HEART

What does the term Gratitude actually mean? It means being thankful or valuing a kindness or benefit received.                         

Bible tells us that “In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning   you.”-  1 Thessalonians 5:18.

Have we recently taken an Inventory of all the blessings in our everyday life? A good New Year Resolution would be to start a Gratitude list/Journal so that every time we feel discouraged in life we could take our Journal out to remind ourselves of how often we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. You might say, “I am grateful in my heart but I just don’t think there is the need to express it.”Well, in that case, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”-William Arthur Ward.

The truth is that when we actually start listing our blessings, we only then realize how much we have and that becomes the beginning of Gratitude. Acc to Eric Hoffer, “The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.”

We must make it our life’s mission to look for things to be thankful in the least expected places & to be grateful for the smallest of things. As the saying goes, “I complained that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.” Often being in touch with those less fortunate than ourselves will open our eyes to the many blessings we already possess!

Gratefulness can be expressed in different ways and at different moments. They should be expressed to all those who are kind to us; our neighbors, friends, family members and above all OUR GOD.

And for those who say they don’t have the time to express Gratitude, let me leave you with a thought provoking quote:

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say "thank you?"  ~William A. Ward

THINGS TO ADD IN OUR GRATITUDE JOURNAL

           
            PRAYER FOR A GRATEFUL HEART:

Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, - a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
                                                          - George Herbert

Take Care, God Bless,

Sparky Laurie

 PS: Just adding a Poem written by me many years back ....which seems suitable to the topic.Its called
TOKENS OF HIS LOVE.....Enjoy!

Tokens of His Love!

This life of ours,

How often taken for granted by us….

After all, that which is got free,

We don’t really know the value of …

But some things in life, free though they are,

Are of untold value; invaluable they are.

This breath that we take in and leave out,

So many times a day, without ever realizing;

But what when one is gasping for breath and put on Artificial Respiration?

Then this breath that otherwise got free, suddenly has a price.

Children are a gift from God, but how many are aborted?

That which is got free, doesn’t have a value for us…

But consider childless couples spending money for treatments-

Yet more couples yearning for adoption.

To them, holding a little babe in their arms is heaven on earth!

They are willing to pay the price!

Fussing about food is so common today

But consider the little infant-

rummaging through the garbage for some morsel of food.

How many unused dresses in our wardrobes lie?

Consider the old man shivering in the cold with nothing to cover himself.

How often we take for granted our family,

never showing them the real love we have for them in our hearts;

Consider the orphan who cries herself to sleep-

 wishing she had someone to call her own!

The job that we always complain about?

Consider the well qualified fresher-

knocking on many a door for a job.

So, Remember!

This very life that we call ours,

Is a wonderful gift from above,

and the many priceless gifts with it,

Are all tokens of His love!

-Sparky Laurie

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18th Feb 2011 MY BIRTHDAY INTO THE BLOGOSPHERE

“For I know the Plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Life is full of new beginnings. On the threshold of the 31^st Chapter of my life, a quote that comes strongly to mind is,  “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”- Henry David Thoreau. One thing I’ve always wanted to do was to use my pen for His glory. After months of toying with the idea and procrastinating bcoz I actually didn’t know how, when and where to start, here I am finally ….. taking my very first baby steps into the Blogosphere….I have the wonder and excitement of a little kid in a fresh crispy uniform and squeaky new shoes on his first day of School on the one hand while on the other hand there is also the nervousness of a newlywed bride stepping out into the unknown.

As always, before venturing into anything new, I just whisper a prayer to my Heavenly Father and take the plunge, fully aware that I will never be beyond the reach of His loving arms or His gentle voice. I wonder along with Moses and Jeremiah of the Bible; “Can I do it?”But then again I roll up my sleeves, take a deep breath and my fingers start their tap dance on the keyboard of my PC  as I begin to share my thoughts with you. After all, “God never calls the qualified but qualifies the called; He doesn’t require our ability but our availability.”On that note, I start lighting my candle to do what little I can to brighten the darkness around!

This is no coincidence. I don’t know who you are and what your need is but one thing I know for sure and that is that God Loves You and He has a message for you today through this blog post!     

To tell you the truth, I’ve never really believed in coincidences as I know for a fact that our Loving Lord, the Creator of this Universe directs our steps. What is amazing is inspite of His sovereignty; He is so concerned about each of His humble creations that “even the very hairs of our head are numbered by Him.”(Mathew 10:30). A detail so very minute and insignificant that even a loving mother who spends all her time with her Child doesn’t know. If our Jehovah knows us so intimately (often even better than we know or understand ourselves), there is no safer place to be!

The greatest malady that kills people today is not Cancer or AIDS (people can survive even this), rather it is the feeling of being unloved and unwanted. That is the worst kind of Cancer there is today –it does not attack the body but eats right into the heart and soul of a person to rob his joy and desire to live. Ironically a healthy body wishes it had Cancer because of a Sick mind! “A heart that is joyful is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”Proverbs 17:22

  Do you know that all of us (no matter where you are in life today….with or without answers…with or w/o health, with or w/o joy, whether jobless, lonely, depressed betrayed, angry, bitter, disappointed, hurt, feeling worthless, numb and devoid of emotion, fed up and maybe so tired of it all that even death is a welcome option, this message is for you. DO NOT LOSE HEART. This is not the end; in fact it is just the beginning. Trust me, we have all been there, including the perfect Jesus “We have a High Priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, for He was also tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.”(Hebrews 4:14).It is not your fault that things are tough and hopeless. Let me tell you a Secret, it is universal-whether anyone admits or not, if we are truly honest, we all have felt this way at some point or other because we live in a world of darkness today-a world  under the Dominion of the Evil One (1 John 5:19 “We know that we are the Children of God, and the whole world is under the control of the Evil One.”)So if you feel odd or unhappy and find that you do not actually fit into this World System , that is in fact a good thing; (James 4:4 “…don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”)Does that mean we should have no friends? Quite the contrary, in fact we should be friendly to all, looking for opportunities to share His word with whoever we meet. Sometimes God places in our lives Godly connections from whom we can learn and grow spiritually by sharing experiences and having fellowship with them. However, it is essential to remember always that our allegiance should be first and foremost to God. Often, we may be surrounded by loving family & friends ;and yet be lonely in the crowd .That is because in each one of us there is a vacuum, a yearning that only God can fill. We are created that way. I have learnt over the years that if we get right with God and give Him our full devotion, live according to His Word, He will give us the desires of our Heart. More importantly, He will give us opportunities to shift from needy positions of dependence to a higher calling of being a Blessing to those in need! That is the greatness of our Lord. He loves us in spite of knowing us inside out! He knows our past and our future, our weaknesses and our strengths; He knows that we are imperfect humans and will fall down over and over again and yet He is ready to trust us and carry us through if we let Him.

So what if you feel bad, so what if you have made mistakes, so what if you feel your life is a mess? Give your life to Jesus today and He will make your test your testimony, He will make your mess, your message and hey …… I am living example for that!

Take Care, God bless.

Sparky Laurie

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