Keeping our hearts right,
Now I’ve lived some years
And still each day I find
That through my pain and tears
The Lord is always kind.
There’s healing when I’m hurt,
There’s rest when I can’t go,
Though dazed or quite alert,
He helps me, high or low.
So my advice is this,
If peace and grace you need,
Is keep your heart in His,
And follow God’s sure lead.
The Bible speaks of “children’s children” or grandchildren. What do grandparents have to do with their grandchildren’s lives and godly behavior? A great deal. God’s mercy lasts forever and our grandchildren can be righteous. Keeping God’s Word ourselves and then raising our own children so they teach their children in the scriptures is a key to seeing God’s grace and mercy in our families. We want our grandchildren to learn, remember, and do our Father’s commandments. As we taught our son, “Listen, Remember, Obey.”
There are many ideas about how to be a good parent as a Christian believer. Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church has some great principles we can follow to be like our heavenly Father when we raise our own children.
What are the great moments of life? Fellowship with God and His Son are the key to joyous times [1 John 1:3,4].
This morning, James 1:4 “jumped out” at me!
James 1:4 [James Moffatt Translation]:
Only, let your endurance be a FINISHED PRODUCT, so that you may be finished and complete, with NEVER A DEFECT.
We have names for our days of the week based on old Nordic deities. Here’s a new way to look at your week.
The American evangelist Billy Sunday once said, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” The only church that Jesus founded is a spiritual one. Men and women may do their best to form fellowship units within the body of Christ, but our true spiritual unity comes from ABOVE, not by pulling ourselves up by our own denominational bootstraps.
The END IS NEAR! Yes, 2025 is almost over. It’s often good to look back and reflect on things.
One day over a year ago, I was sitting with our granddaughter and she began to sing a little tune: “Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow.” I’d never heard it before, so I looked it up online. I found it among a half-hour video with lots of fun songs. Eventually that song collection became one of our favorites, even playing it when driving to and from her home in our car [yes, we have our very own car seat just for that purpose].
That reminds me of finding joy in the Lord and singing in our hearts each day. Jesus was full of joy and wanted us to have that joy too.
I have a copy of the “unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united states of America” on my desk. Being a Latin teacher, I like words like “unanimous.” As you can figure out from unicycle, “uni” means “one” [the universe, verto means “turn,” turns as one]. The Latin word “animus” means mind or life [“animals” are “animated” with a mind]. So, these thirteen different states were of “one mind” on overcoming the political oppression they faced and moving ahead as one new nation. What about those of us who are “one new body” in Christ? Can we be unanimous?