To make your dream come true, you have to stay awake.
From Ephesians 3:20: “Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.”
Dennis Swanberg Quote
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Menu of Choices
Life comes at us every day
Today’s choices have much to say
Right now, Option A looks quite good
Wishing for luck, knocking on wood
Infinite possibilities
Some become liabilities
One choice navigates life forward
Life seems so straightforward
Another turns life upside-down
Flipping plans into dark ghost town
Daily question: What choice to make?
Tomorrow’s answer now at stake
Opportunities from choices
Watch out for temptation’s voices
Making choices, powerful tool
Please just one, become a jewel
Life’s mistakes searching for feedback
Answers help to keep us on track
Menu of choices fills desires
Lighting up our inherent fires
Near life’s hot stove, always aware
Certain choices may burn, beware
Searching with hands, hearts, and minds
Our next choice, what will it now find?
Elizabeth Gilbert Quotes
Some days are meant to be counted, others are meant to be weighed.
Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots.
Elizabeth Gilbert (born 1969) is an American journalist and author.
To Whom Shall We Turn?
From Isaiah 65:1: “I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that did not call on my name.”
Life’s stormy tribulations
Landscape filling with despair
Asking, to whom shall we turn?
God’s love coming forth, He cares
Darkness waits at each doorstep
Evil tramples tender reeds
Asking, to whom shall we turn?
God’s caring, sows fertile seeds
With each day, doing our best
Failure waiting once again
Asking, to whom shall we turn?
God’s seeds, breaking chains
Persecution waits nearby
Enemy lines up to strike
Asking, to whom shall we turn?
God’s breaking bread, fills life’s dike
Passing years taking their toll
Burdens never seem to leave
Asking, to whom shall we turn?
God’s life plan, always believe
American Methodist preacher and gospel hymn composer, Charles Albert Tindley (1851-1933), wrote the lyrics to “Stand By Me” in 1905. Gospel singer Marvin Williams adds his own interpretation to this beloved hymn.
Prayer Quotes
Martin Luther King, Jr.
None can believe how powerful prayer is, and what it is able to effect, but those who have learned it by experience.
Charles Spurgeon
I know of no better thermometer to your spiritual temperature than this, the measure of the intensity of your prayer.
From 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Soul-Searching (Haiku Series #183)
Edge of Darkness
Harsh rhetoric harms
Angry political camps—
Nation tears apart
Stepping Forward
Division falls back
Country must always come first—
Democracy breathes
Time for Compromise
Conflict’s stormy waves
Navigating nation’s course—
Finding common ground
Albert Einstein Quotes
Information is not knowledge. Experience is knowledge.
There are two ways to live your life–one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.
Monday Memories: Coffee By the Cup
Originally published in February, 2020, this humorous short story features the wills of a serious coffee drinker and a determined server, who wants to have the last word.
Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com
Wednesday morning broadcasts the arrival of another breakfast meeting for Billy and his other retired friends. Once a week, he meets his five best buds for hot coffee, delicious food, and welcome conversation at Bob’s Diner.
He always wears his favorite plaid, flannel shirt (perhaps you recall Al Borland from “Tool Time”). His faded, tractor green “John Deere” cap covers his nearly bald head, but his smile always catches his favorite server’s attention.
Flo has been working for the diner ever since Mel’s Diner closed (you might remember Mel and Alice—they became quite an item). She holds her own with humor and a smile, always managing to take care of Billy and his pals every Wednesday morning.
As Flo is scurrying around the diner with her always full coffee pot, she sets it down near Billy’s table as she takes another order. Billy appropriates the full pot of freshly brewed refills for his own private use, and sets it right next to his nearly empty cup. He tells Flo, “Thanks my dear. Now you won’t need to worry about refilling my cup.”
Billy remarks to his friends, “Ain’t life great!”
Billy enjoys his coffee, probably too much. The manager takes a look and shakes his head . . . as his profits shrink with every coffee pot Billy drinks. He motions Flo to come over for a moment, and they share a quick word.
Flo formulates a plan to take care of Billy’s endless and bottomless coffee drinking.
By the end of the breakfast meeting, the gray-haired trio times two has solved just about all of the world’s problems for another week. Billy has nearly eaten a whole hog as he has devoured crispy bacon, honey-baked ham, and perfectly browned sausage links, along with the usual fixings of hash browns, eggs, and pancakes. It’s time for the check please.
Billy surveys his bill, and his smile stretches to a frown. Reading on, he sees that he has been charged for a whole pot of coffee. He thinks to himself, “What’s this?”
Billy’s check has a special note at the bottom, “Cheaper to drink coffee by the cup instead of by the pot!”
Photo by Marcelo Chagas on Pexels.com
Charles Swindoll Quote
When times are tough, the Lord is our only security.
From Matthew 6:25, 31-32: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
Overcoming Storms
From Matthew 14:23-25: “And after He [Jesus] had dismissed the crowds, He went up the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning He came walking toward them on the sea.”
Facing challenges
Feel nourishing calm
Fed with Living Bread
Holy Spirit’s balm
Sailing into wind
Swelling, stormy waves
Seeking God’s compass
Eternal grace saves
Witnessing hardships
Gale arrives today
God never leaves us
Teaching us to pray
Smothering tempest
Evil’s wrath scolding
Finding God’s refuge
His peace beholding
Overcoming storms
Daily lessons teach
Hearing Gospel’s call
Rescued from tide’s breach
From Proverbs 10:25: “When the tempest passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are established forever.”
Big Sky Buckeye 