"Two Assumptions of Decision Making" - A Good Thing - July 15, 2010,

"Two Assumptions of Decision Making" - A Good Thing - July 15, 2010,
Day 15 Theme: Decision Making

Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths - Psalm 25:4,

never ask "why?"

There are lots of "why" type questions that i often ask myself and to God, but very seldom do i get answers for them.Most times, when i see whats happening in lives of some of the good people i know, i can't help myself from asking "why " type questions.

Sometimes God's ways seem very perplexing, very confusing, His workings are not at all understood.I asked some veterans of faith and they answered me " it is better to thank God for everything He gives us, good or bad" . Just as i ask "why 's " to my dad, i sometimes say to myself , it is in same manner , iam asking to my father God.Habakkuk, asked, Nehemiah reminded God about the good works he carried out,Jonah asked.But too much dwelling on why's, seems really dangerous, it can sow seeds of doubt on God's sovereignty and also make us to falter from His tracks.
I have been trying not to ask why, instead praise Him.I sure have plenty of reasons to praise God, but looking at the lives of some of my close ones, and the injustice prevailing ,
"why" , pops up now and then.

Life in India

A stark contrast is clearly visible, one side i can see big , expensive cars, and on other side people below a dollar a day income.In big cities, i see people living on pavements , with just a sleeping bag for possession,traffic everywhere, long queues for daily fetching of water and lack of basic sanitation, the other side big software companies, beautiful university campuses, everything side by side, India is truly a country of contrast.Yet within this country are beautiful places, beautiful people, mouthwatering cuisines, diverse culture, different language, innumerable customs and traditions, different religions , but the harsh reality is still the people on the pavements , yet they go about their daily life with a sense of hope which is very hard to understand.I seem to lose hope looking at the conditions and corruption within my country but truly feel wordless to describe the spirit within those fighting for each meal , every day.

World Vision: child poverty in Africa - sponsor a child in Sierra Leone - Telegraph

World Vision: child poverty in Africa - sponsor a child in Sierra Leone - Telegraph

The land between Tigris and Euphratus-Mesopotamia

I remember studying about the Mesopotamian civilization that existed during the time of Indus civilization in my history books.With eyes wide open and with great interest i , read about the people, society and practices of those civilizations.Presence of the excavated sites reveals , their ancient houses , made up of brick, mortar and stone was much like ours.Ordered street , with houses built one after the other,well constructed drainage system , reveals existence of construction methods much before the modern inventions.Known for polytheism, art, pottery, writing, well established trade , this ancient Mesopotamia , the cradle of civilizations ,which existed during 3100 BC , was much advanced than what we can probably imagine.
Its worth pondering, at their methods and practices, at a time when the present technology was non existent.
Just feel like going back into those times, and watching the people , their lives, their families, their beliefs which sustained them, Looks like this land and its people ,between the Tigris and Euphrates, were much ahead of their time.

Quotes from "RESURECTION" by LEO TOLSTOY

In Nekhlyudov, as in all of us, there were two men. One was the spiritual being, seeking for himself only the kind of happiness that meant happiness for other people too; but there was also the animal man out only for his own happiness….”

“One of the commonest and most generally accepted delusions is that every man can be qualified in some particular way—said to be kind, wicked, stupid, energetic, apathetic and so on. People are not like that.” (252)
“Human beings are like rivers: the water is one and the same in all of them but every river is narrow in some places; flows swifter in others….”

Tolstoy's view on Christ

* Five years ago I began to believe in the doctrine of Christ, and in consequence a great change has been wrought in me.
Men need only trust in Christ's teaching and obey it, and there will be peace on earth

* I saw that Christ does not require us to turn the other cheek, and to give away our cloak, in order to make us suffer; but He teaches us not to resist evil, and warns us that doing so may involve personal suffering.

* ‘Do not resist evil’ means never to resist evil, i.e., never offer violence to anyone. If a man reviles you, do not revile him in return; suffer, but do no violence.

* The precept ‘not to resist evil’ is one that contains the whole substance of Christ’s doctrine, if we consider it not only as a saying, but also as a law we are bound to obey.

* To affirm that the Christian doctrine refers only to personal salvation and has no bearing upon state affairs is a great error.

World's 'oldest Christian church' discovered in Jordan - Telegraph

World's 'oldest Christian church' discovered in Jordan - Telegraph

my missed oppurtunities

When we look back at some missed chances in my life, sometimes a thought or two would cross my mind , telling me if only this had happened then things would have been different.
But on greater introspection and upon reflection from the Bible , i am able to dispel those thoughts away , since each every event in an individuals life , remotely random ones too are ordered by tne divine hands of the master planner, little by little His plan unfolds, and one day in future we are able to make sense of the events of the past .Sometimes it just remains a mystery , for i walk by faith , not by sight.When one door closes, another opens.

A quote here-
If you view all the things that happen to you,
both good and bad, as opportunities,
then you operate out of a higher level of consciousness.
-Les Brown

The Republic by Plato

Plato’s opinion are written in a book called The Republic.Plato in his book emphasizes on the value of virtues in human life and in the society.He gives importance to the value of justice.Plato believed in the importance of presence of equality in society.
He set himself in pursuit of knowledge of noble character. Plato believed that every human has three souls , which make their inputs into the individuals character.
The rational soul is the distinguishes between the right and the wrong, acts wisely.While the will or the spirited soul, is the courageous part, which carries out the action and the desire part is the emotional drive.

Russia And Europe May Join Forces To Protect Earth From Asteroids

Russia And Europe May Join Forces To Protect Earth From Asteroids

The Rwandan Genocide of 1994

I read the stories of various survivors, the torturous time they underwent , it was truly Hell let loose in Rwanda.The memories of these horrifying crimes can never ever be etched away from the minds of Rwandans.In 1994, around 80000 Rwandan were killed, by the Hutu majority(Interahamwe ).Those killed belonged to the Tutsi minority. This was done as an organized mass scale slaughter , within the timeframe of 100 days.
The exterminations were planned very carefully , with the armed militia present in every neighborhood, armed with grenades and AK-47.It is said to have started on April 6, 1994, with the killing of Rwandan President Habyarimana.
The Hutu militia then based on ID’s revealing ethnic identity, went from one area to another killing the Tutus. The first day ended with thousands of Tutus being murdered.
UN could nothing, nor the other countries.Though they rescued their own civilians not much was done to stop the killings. Even within the safe areas, the killings continued, until by mid july, when the Tutsi RPF forces captured Kigali. The Hutu government had to flee to Zaire. International Federation of Human Rights Leagues and the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch released a 900 paged report titled, "Leave None to Tell the Story.",documenting the events of the genocide , which also criticizes the U.N., the U.S., France and Belgium for not taking action to prevent the killings. The secretary general of UN and US president Bill Clinton apologized to the people of Rwanda.

Orphans of war deserve our support | Human Rights Watch

Orphans of war deserve our support | Human Rights Watch

We fear we'll end

When life goes in directions we didn't expect, and when those directions include suffering and frustration, we can easily become discouraged. We wonder if God has forgotten us. We worry that our lives will sputter out like a car that has run out of gas. We fear we'll end, "not with a bang, but a whimper," to quote T. S. Eliot's

Motivated by the live traffic feed results

Today i rigged a little bit into the Traffic feed , and found to my surprise people who have visited, from several countries, many unexpected destinations and read several of my blog pages.It makes me feel happy , as though some kind of recognition has been given to me.Though i write often like "keeping a journal", its good to feel that others too are reading these.
I realize how correct Maslow was, about the various needs that humans have, especially the need for recognition and acceptance.
If only we would walk a little mile extra each day to encourage others who are part of our lives, the world would become a very wonderful place to live, our homes will be a happier abode

Encouragement will increase motivation,
endorphins triggered would heal one of stress,
a positive mood will ensue,
you in turn will influence others positively.
Ruth Joyful

I would like to add this quote,
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
Voltaire

The Rainy Day by Rabindranath Tagore

The Rainy Day by Rabindranath Tagore
Sullen clouds are gathering fast over the black fringe of the
forest.
O child, do not go out!
The palm trees in a row by the lake are smiting their heads
against the dismal sky; the crows with their dragged wings are
silent on the tamarind branches, and the eastern bank of the river
is haunted by a deepening gloom.
Our cow is lowing loud, ties at the fence.
O child, wait here till I bring her into the stall.
Men have crowded into the flooded field to catch the fishes
as they escape from the overflowing ponds; the rain-water is
running in rills through the narrow lanes like a laughing boy who
has run away from his mother to tease her.
Listen, someone is shouting for the boatman at the ford.
O child, the daylight is dim, and the crossing at the ferry
is closed.
The sky seems to ride fast upon the madly rushing rain; the
water in the river is loud and impatient; women have hastened home
early from the Ganges with their filled pitchers.
The evening lamps must be made ready.
O child, do not go out!
The road to the market is desolate, the lane to the river is
slippery. The wind is roaring and struggling among the bamboo
branches like a wild beast tangled in a net.

I am happy that it finally rained.

Today it rained in this town of mine, oh ! what a joy to see those tiny drops of water wet this parch land, the shrubs, trees , creepers and the climbers all looked wet with the drops , welcoming these long awaited guests who were so reluctant to come down.Everyday , over past week , i saw the clouds gathering in the evening, the dark clouds, forming an assembly, thunderously echoing their voice in unison ,but the drops inside seemed to be holding tight , not willing to shower down , their blessings.Though for a short period , yet it rained, and I am happy that it finally rained.The smell of earth (due to Streptomyces griseus), was so welcoming.The breeze followed, adding its inputs into this unfolding rain scenario.
Send these showers often Lord!.Let me add to this few lines from Longfellow's poem on the summer rain.
Joyful


In the country, on every side,
Where far and wide,
Like a leopard's tawny and spotted hide,
Stretches the plain,
To the dry grass and the drier grain
How welcome is the rain!

Rain in Summer
by Henry W. Longfellow

My Neem tree

Though i don't live in a very green place, nor is my part of country blessed with with a pleasant climate, which i really long to prevail, yet my house has in front of two gigantic trees , they almost loom into the sky, their wide canopy covers everything below, giving us a cool shade, a haven to birds, and especially their greenness is something which is very attracting to me.Too many attempts by others to cut it down, every time we intervened, and today as i call it, when i see it from a distance " our patriarch"..Its been there for more than a decade and i hope to see it for a long long time.
The tree seems to echo to me , some kind of strength, some kind of dignity in its gigantic nature, it stands there quite composed, providing joy to us .I love to look at it every morning, hears the birds sing their songs, and the swaying branches dancing to their songs.This is our mini effort to save two trees, when we see many a tree falling down under the axe.

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of the church. We are fighting today for costly grace."
"Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field. For the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price, to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble. It is the call of Jesus Christ, at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him. Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

"Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his son. "Ye were born at a price."
And what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us."
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
http://christianaudio.com/free

The MOROCCON nomadic life

Morocco is a country located in the northern part of the African subcontinent.Its people , their beliefs , their customs , especially their food is very interest arousing.

The nomadic life seen at the Saharan border, was unbelievable.People living there in tents and shelters brazing the extreme heat and winds of the desert, it was truly unbelievable to imagine their life there.
Yet they live in the most dignified manner , cooking their simple food, mostly vegetables, relying on their camels for transportation and goats for milk.
The spices of Morocco needs mentioning, it adds the special flavor and aroma to their cuisine.
The breads baked in special traditional ovens made with desert sand, which brought forth brown crusty bread looked beautiful.The desert winds aiding the cooking process. Both Berbers and Saharan nomads live here, the Saharawi nomads are more known.Their rich folklore , their handicrafts are unique.
Its amazing to see people living in small tents with everything inside getting layed with the desert sand, yet to see them milk their goats, herd their camels, eat their food together like a family, with the food spread for all on one plate and each sharing the meal, dipping the bread in the gravy kept commonly for all, depicted a life more enriching then our comfort filled, stress filled , without family time , rush hour lives.
This is from my own writing for another of my blog.

To My Wife - by Oscar Wilde

To My Wife - by Oscar Wilde

I can write no stately poem
As a prelude to my lay;
From a poet to a poem
I would dare to say.

For if of these fallen petals
One to you seem fair,
Love will waft it till it settles
On your hair.

And when wind and winter harden
All the loveless land,
It will whisper of the garden,
You will understand.

triumph over affliction

By means of affliction, God molds His children into comfort carriers (2 Cor. 1:4). The message we offer is the one we learned in our trials: God is enough. He is sufficient to meet needs when the pit is deep, the obstacle high, or the suffering prolonged. Moreover, our own life proves that hardship makes Christians stronger and wiser.
Second Corinthians 2:14 tells us that believers are a sweet aroma on the earth. Those whom God leads to triumph over affliction become the fragrance of His care to a hurting world. We carry cheer to the discouraged, relief to the hurting, and the message of Christ's love to all.
Dr. Charles Stanley

each day i fail to focus

I planned several things , but each day i fail to focus, why?
My heart is not quiet, its agitated, it is protesting, my thoughts are wandering.
Lord iam helpless, gather my stray thoughts, help me put the helmet of salvation,
And trust you.


RuthJoyful

Don't feel victimized,cheated, forsaken and betrayed,

today was a very wasted day for me, a small event kept nudging me so much that i lost my control.But learnt the lesson that sometimes things on which we lean too much , are shaken by God , to make us realize that we ought to lean on God.
Which means learning His golden rule- Wait , Wait and Wait...........
Don't rush.
Be patient
Look at the bigger picture.
Don't feel victimized,cheated, forsaken and betrayed, for........
everything has its purpose.
Quiet my soul Lord with your touch, i need to feel your presence,
Help me feel you.

Ruthjoyful

George Mueller's simple prayer of faith

George Mueller came to me, and said, "Captain I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec Saturday afternoon." "It is impossible," I said. "Very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I have never broken an engagement for fifty-seven years. Let us go down into the chart-room and pray."

I looked at that man of God, and thought to myself, what lunatic asylum can that man have come from? I never heard of such a thing as this. "Mr. Mueller," I said, "do you know how dense this fog is?" "No," he replied, "my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life."
I looked at him, and he said, "Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to get audience with the King. Get up, Captain and open the door, and you will find the fog gone." I got up, and the fog was indeed gone. On Saturday afternoon, George Mueller was in Quebec for his engagement.--Selected

"If our love were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine,
In the sweetness of our Lord."

From Streams in desert

pure in heart and obedient in faith-charles cowman

Not to these only, but to many more, doors have been opened into Heaven, when, so far as the world was concerned, it seemed as though their circumstances were altogether unlikely for such revelations.But there are conditions. You must know what it is to be in the Spirit; you must be pure in heart and obedient in faith; you must be willing to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ; then when God is all in all to us, when we live, move and have our being in His favor, to us also will the door be opened.

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter by J. R. R. Tolkien

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter by J. R. R. Tolkien

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

I Sit and Think by J. R. R. Tolkien

I Sit and Think by J. R. R. Tolkien

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall never see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

c s lewis on christianity

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
C. S. Lewis
I gave in, and admitted that God was God.
C. S. Lewis

The Daily Climate

The Daily Climate

Jesus, Thou Divine Companion by Henry Van Dyke

Jesus, Thou Divine Companion by Henry Van Dyke

Jesus, Thou divine Companion,
By Thy lowly human birth
Thou hast come to join the workers,
Burden bearers of the earth.
Thou, the Carpenter of Nazareth,
Toiling for Thy daily food,
By Thy patience and Thy courage,
Thou hast taught us toil is good.

They who tread the path of labor
Follow where Thy feet have trod;
They who work without complaining
Do the holy will of God.
Thou, the Peace that passeth knowledge,
Dwellest in the daily strife;
Thou, the Bread of heaven, broken
In the sacrament of life.

Every task, however simple,
Sets the soul that does it free;
Every deed of love and kindness
Done to man is done to Thee.
Jesus, Thou divine Companion,
Help us all to do our best;
Bless in our daily labor,
Lead us to the Sabbath rest.

William Wordsworth

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Stars by Katherine Mansfield

Stars by Katherine Mansfield

Most merciful God
Look kindly upon
An impudent child
Who wants sitting on.
This evening late
I went to the door
And then to the gate
There were more stars--more
Than I could have expected,
Even I!
I was amazed,
Almighty, August!
I was utterly dazed,
Omnipotent! Just
In a word I was floored,
Good God of Hosts--Lord!
That at this time of day
They should still blaze away,
That thou hadst not rejected
Or at least circumspected
Their white silver beauty--
Was it spite? Was it duty?

2008 Report on the global AIDS epidemic

2008 Report on the global AIDS epidemic

He giveth more grace-Annie Johnson Flint

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limit; His grace has no measure.
His pow’r has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!

Annie Johnson Flint

fast and pray;

"If you are sick, fast and pray; if the language is hard to learn, fast and pray; if the people will not hear you, fast and pray, if you have nothing to eat, fast and pray."
Frederick Franson

Blessèd Spirit, Dove divine.

Holy Ghost, come down upon Thy children,
Give us grace and make us Thine;
Thy tender fires within us kindle,
Blessèd Spirit, Dove divine.

For all within us good and holy
Is from Thee, Thy precious gift;
In all our joys, in all our sorrows,
Wistful hearts to Thee we lift.

Saint Gonsalo Garcia (1556–1597) was a Roman Catholic saint from India.

Born of a Portuguese father and a Canarese mother in Bassein, East India, about the year 1556 or 1557; d. 5 Feb., 1597. His early training was entrusted to the Jesuits, who brought him up in their college in Bassein Fort. At the age of twenty-four or twenty-five he went to Japan in the company of some Jesuit Fathers who were ordered, in 1580, to leave Bassein, and join their mission in the former country. He quickly acquired a knowledge of the language; and as he was of an amiable disposition he won the hearts of the people and did great service as a catechist for eight years.
He later went to Japan and preached the Gospel.He was nailed on the cross along with 25 others.
On February 5, Garcia was crucified on Nagasaki Hills with twenty six of his companions. St. Garcia was the first to be extended on, and nailed to, the cross, which was then erected in the middle of those of his companions. Fr. Gonsalo, the first to arrive, went straight to one of the crosses and asked "Is this mine?". The reply was "It is not". Then he was taken to another cross, where he knelt down and embraced it. The others, one after another, started doing the same. "That was quite a sight, the way Br. Philip was embracing his cross. . . " comments one of the witnesses.[1] [3] Two lances impaled his body through his heart. While being nailed, Garcia sang praises of God, earning him the martyr's title.[1]

Mrs Adoniram Judsons experience

"I began to discover a beauty in the way of salvation by Christ. He appeared to be just a Savior as I needed. I saw how God could be just, in saving sinners through Him. I committed my soul into His hands, and besought Him to do with me what seemed good in His sight. When I was thus enabled to commit myself into the hands of Christ, my mind was relieved from that distressing weight which had borne it down for so long a time. I did not think that I had obtained the new heart which I had been seeking, but felt happy in contemplating the character of Christ, and particularly that disposition which led Him to suffer so much, for the sake of doing the will and promoting the glory of His heavenly Father. . . A few days after this . . . I began to hope that I had passed from death unto life. When I examined myself, I was constrained to own that I had feelings and dispositions to which I was formerly and utter stranger. I had sweet communion with the blessed God from day to day; my heart was drawn out in love to Christians of whatever denomination; the sacred Scriptures were sweet to my taste; and such was my thirst for religious knowledge that I frequently spent a great part of the night in reading religious books."
http://www.wellofoath.com/home.asp?pg=Bios&toc=Adoniram+Judson

'Hannah Moore's Strictures on Female Education,'

Little events and trivial operations engross her whole soul;
while a woman of sense, having provided for their probable recurrence, guards
against the inconveniences, without being disconcerted by the casual
obstructions which they offer to her general scheme.

A general capacity for knowledge and the cultivation of the understanding at
large, will always put a woman into the best state for directing her pursuits into
those particular channels which her destination in life may afterwards require. But
she should be carefully instructed that her talents are only a means to a still
higher attainment, and that, she is not to rest in them as an end; that merely to
exercise them as instruments for the acquisition of fame and the promotion of
pleasure, is subversive of her delicacy as a woman, and contrary to the spirit of a
Christian.

Study, therefore, is to be considered as the means of strengthening the mind,
and of fitting it for higher duties, just as exercise is to be considered as an
instrument for strengthening the body for the same purpose

Womans way to be more economical-'Hannah Moore's Strictures on Female Education,'

Economy such as a woman of fortune is called on to
practise, is not merely the petty detail of small daily expenses, the shabby
curtailments and stinted parsimony of a little mind operating on little concerns;
but it is the exercise of a sound judgment exerted in the comprehensive outline of
order, of arrangement, of distribution ; of regulations by which alone well-
governed societies, great and small, subsist. She who has the best-regulated
mind will, other things being equal, have the best-regulated family. As in the
superintendence of the universe, wisdom is seen in its effects; and as in the
visible works of Providence, that which goes on with such beautiful regularity is
the result, not of chance, but of design; so, that management which seems the
most easy, is commonly the consequence of the best-concerted plan ; and a
well-concerted plan is seldom the offspring of an ordinary mind. A sound
economy is a sound understanding brought into action ; it is calculation realized;
it is the doctrine of proportion reduced to practice; it is foreseeing consequences,
and guarding against them ; it is expecting contingencies, and being prepared for
them

'Hannah Moore's Strictures on Female Education,'

And let every Christian remember, that
there is no other way of entering truly into the spirit of that divine prayer, which
petitions that the name of God may be “hallowed," that "his kingdom (of grace)
may come," and that "his will may be done on earth as it is in heaven," than by
each individual contributing according to his measure to accomplish the work for
which he prays; for to pray that these great objects may be promoted, without
contributing to their promotion by our exertions, our money, and our influence, is
a palpable inconsistency.

the LORD that watches over our lives

Often the LORD that watches over our lives , does not let us go astray and brings us back to the track long planned for us.

This LORD will not allow us to suffer beyond what we can bear.

He promises to provide strength for the trials.

He will not delay His help but it will arrive at the right moment.

He cannot be seen by the eyes of sight but only by the eyes of FAITH.

He will protect us from every danger and will not allow the enemy to touch us.

He requires us to not fret but trust in HIS care and provisions.

His provisions are just for the day, a day , and each day HE sends them as per the need.

He wants us to know that worrying for the next day is futile as the next day is entirely unexpected.

He wants our cooperation in the form of prayer, a prayer from the heart and not from the lips.
He is the giver of justice .
His plans are not ours, but HIS plans are the best for us.
He wants us to claim the promises HE has given us.
He wants us to guard our mind as our thought battles are the main battles.
HE WANTS US TO READ HIS WORD AND GET HELP FROM THERE.
HE knows as humans we are weak and we often fail and falter.
posted on the evening of 24th june 2010, after much contemplation.
Wanted my fundamentals to get prioritized.
Through this time of crisis HE alone is our anchor,refuge, strength and victory.

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.

Refrain: But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

Be Not Anxious-Annie Johnson Flint

Be Not Anxious

I cannot change the yesterday when I distrusted Thee,
Though all my fears unfounded proved, and shame me now as then;
I cannot promise that my faith will last throughout the night,
Or that, when Thy tomorrow comes, I will not doubt again.

But grant, O faithful Lord and true, that I may trust Thee now,
Just now, each moment of each hour of this Thy present day;
That, looking backward, I may read the record of the past,
And, forward, see Thy steadfast word light all the future way.

With Memory to guard the rear and Faith to lead the van,
And all Thy tested promises like beacon lights to shine,
How can I dread that demon shape of anxious, faithless fear?
For he shall lose his power when I fully trust in Thine.

Annie Johnson Flint

Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known unto God

For He saith, "Thou passest THROUGH." --Annie Johnson Flint

For His promise shall sustain us,
Praise the Lord, whose Word is true!
We shall not go down, or under,
For He saith, "Thou passest THROUGH."
This sustained me today, though very well aware that nothing escapes the gaze of my God, still with waves of fear surging up against the fortress of faith ,i was wavering , trying to calm my hurried heart when i was reminded to pray and lay the matter down in the mighty arms of Jesus, for He knows the way in the storm and the whirlwind , He will not let us sink but will make way through the ocean unto the promised land.

Annie Johnson Flint

Threatening breakers of destruction,
Doubt's insidious undertow,
Shall not sink us, shall not drag us
Out to ocean depths of woe;
For His promise shall sustain us,
Praise the Lord, whose Word is true!
We shall not go down, or under,
For He saith, "Thou passest THROUGH."
--Annie Johnson Flint

Streams in the Desert

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18).
Short-sighted man! How know I that one of these pangs or groans could be spared? The far-sighted, perfect love that seeks the perfection of its object does not weakly shrink from present, transient suffering. Our Father's love is too true to be weak. Because He loves His children, He chastises them that they may be partakers of His holiness. With this glorious end in view, He spares not for their crying. Made perfect through sufferings, as the Elder Brother was, the sons of God are trained up to obedience and brought to glory through much tribulation
Streams in the Desert - June 23
Is there some problem in your life to solve,
Some passage seeming full of mystery?
God knows, who brings the hidden things to light.

Best way to live your life

The purpose of life is a life of purpose. ~Robert Byrne

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”
stuart

Albert Einstein quote
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget about everything except what you’re going to do now – and do it.
William Durant
“The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.”
Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.
Norman Vincent Peale

No one can go back and make a brand new start. Anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
Unknown
The obstacles you face are… mental barriers which can be broken by adopting a more positive approach.
Clarence Blasier
I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
Maya Angelou
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.
Corrie Ten Boom
Life’s uncertain voyage.
Shakespeer

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can.
Lowell Thomas
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
Mother Theresa
It is better to believe than to disbelieve; in so doing, you bring everything to the realm of possibility.
Albert Einstein

Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.
Cherie Carter-Scott

Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself.
Robert Collier
Practice hope. As hopefulness becomes a habit, you can achieve a permanently happy spirit.
Norman Vincent Peale
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Helen Keller

Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,–’Wait and hope’.
Alexandre Dumas
"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars."

Henry Van Dyke quotes
"Nothing is more highly to be prized than the value of each day"

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quotes (German playwright, poet, novelist and dramatist. 1749-1832)
About: Life quotes.
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I Like this quote I dislike this quote"You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth"

Henry Louis Mencken quotes

quotes on risk taking-Paulo Coelho

You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.



Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks. Perhaps this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned; perhaps she won't suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow. But when the person looks back-she will hear her heart saying, 'What have you done with the miracles that G-d planted in your days? What have you done with the talents G-d bestowed on you? You buried yourself in a cave because you were fearful of losing those talents. So this is your heritage: the certainty that you have wasted your life.

We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. Every day, G-d gives us the sun-and also one moment in which we have the ability to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day, we try to pretend that we haven't perceived that moment, that it doesn't exist, that today is the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow.

Suffering quotes -Paulo Coelho

But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for.



I still pray but it's something automatic, and I'm not even sure I still believe in it... Because I've suffered, and G-d didn't listen to my prayers. because many times in my life I have tried to love with all my heart, and my love has wound up being trampled or betrayed. If G-d is love, he should have cared more about my feelings.

Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dream.

Paulo Coelho quote

It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting......Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams master the lessons we have learned as we have moved toward that dream. That's the point at which most people give up.... [At this point] Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.
-- Paulo Coelho

for I shall not pass this way again

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.
-- Stephen Grellet

Dale Carnegie quotes

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."
Dale Carnegie
"There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts:
what we do, how we look,
what we say, and how we say it."
Dale Carnegie
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."
Dale Carnegie
"Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday."
Dale Carnegie

Like the samaritan women - a prayer

Prayer
Lord, I come to the well with my earthenware vessel. I come burdened with the weight of my past sins, steeped with feelings of unworthiness. I stand hidden with my veil of self-deprecation, of rejection. I am an outcast. Travel the short way, Jesus, and directly touch my heart, taking away all the negative feelings of unworthiness. Let me know that your acceptance is all I need for happiness. Fill my vessel with your compassion and love so I may drink of the living water. Visit the wells of other peoples and other nations, and refresh them with your water. Take away our stony hearts and give us natural hearts, ready to accept and love. Let it begin with me. Amen.
From http://www.rpinet.com/products/wwgw.html

Excerpt - Graced Time- profound questions-The women at the well

Excerpt

Graced Time

Suggested Questions

1. Have you ever had what you thought was a "chance encounter" that turned out to be a grace-filled event?

2. What things isolate you from the world around you?

3. What perpetuates isolation?

4. What can you do to break that perpetuity?

5. Do you perpetuate bias toward other persons or groups of people?

6. Do you have layers of barriers that make it difficult for God to reach you in a profound way?

7. Can you identify with the woman's isolation?

Women at the well-the samaritan women

Time erased

By life-giving water,

Offered by a man who had no bucket,

Who knew me not, yet knew me well.

My past washed clean

In the spring that I became —

Flowing, flowing through me,

God's instrument.

Never again shall I thirst.

Judy Ritter

WOMAN AT THE WELL

WOMAN AT THE WELL

A SAMARITAN WOMAN.-Poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Christus: A Mystery

VI

JACOB'S WELL

A SAMARITAN WOMAN.
The sun is hot; and the dry east-wind blowing
Fills all the air with dust. The birds are silent;
Even the little fieldfares in the corn
No longer twitter; only the grasshoppers
Sing their incessant song of sun and summer.
I wonder who those strangers were I met
Going into the city? Galileans
They seemed to me in speaking, when they asked
The short way to the market-place. Perhaps
They are fishermen from the lake; or travellers,
Looking to find the inn. And here is some one
Sitting beside the well; another stranger;
A Galilean also by his looks.
What can so many Jews be doing here
Together in Samaria? Are they going
Up to Jerusalem to the Passover?
Our Passover is better here at Sychem,
For here is Ebal; here is Gerizim,
The mountain where our father Abraham
Went up to offer Isaac; here the tomb
Of Joseph,--for they brought his bones Egypt
And buried them in this land, and it is holy.

CHRISTUS.
Give me to drink.

SAMARITAN WOMAN.
How can it be that thou,
Being a Jew, askest to drink of me
Which am a woman of Samaria?
You Jews despise us; have no dealings with us;
Make us a byword; call us in derision
The silly folk of Sychar. Sir, how is it
Thou askest drink of me?

CHRISTUS.
If thou hadst known
The gift of God, and who it is that sayeth
Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him;
He would have given thee the living water.

SAMARITAN WOMAN.
Sir, thou hast naught to draw with, and the well
Is deep ! Whence hast thou living water?
Say, art thou greater than our father Jacob,
Which gave this well to us, and drank thereof
Himself, and all his children and his cattle?

CHRISTUS.
Ah, whosoever drinketh of this water
Shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh
The water I shall give him shall not thirst
Forevermore, for it shall be within him
A well of living water, springing up
Into life everlasting.

SAMARITAN WOMAN.
Every day
I must go to and fro, in heat and cold,
And I am weary. Give me of this water,
That I may thirst not, nor come here to draw.

CHRISTUS.
Go call thy husband, woman, and come hither.

SAMARITAN WOMAN.
I have no husband, Sir.

CHRISTUS.
Thou hast well said
I have no husband. Thou hast had five husbands;
And he whom now thou hast is not thy husband.

SAMARITAN WOMAN.
Surely thou art a Prophet, for thou readest
The hidden things of life! Our fathers worshipped
Upon this mountain Gerizim; and ye say
The only place in which men ought to worship
Is at Jerusalem.

CHRISTUS.
Believe me, woman,
The hour is coming, when ye neither shall
Upon this mount, nor at Jerusalem,
Worship the Father; for the hour is coming,
And is now come, when the true worshippers
Shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth!
The Father seeketh such to worship Him.
God is a spirit; and they that worship Him
Must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

SAMARITAN WOMAN.
Master, I know that the Messiah cometh,
Which is called Christ; and he will tell us all things.

CHRISTUS.
I that speak unto thee am He!

THE DISCIPLES, returning.
Behold,
The Master sitting by the well, and talking
With a Samaritan woman! With a woman
Of Sychar, the silly people, always boasting
Of their Mount Ebal, and Mount Gerizim,
Their Everlasting Mountain, which they think
Higher and holier than our Mount Moriah!
Why, once upon the Feast of the New Moon,
When our great Sanhedrim of Jerusalem
Had all its watch-fires kindled on the hills
To warn the distant villages, these people
Lighted up others to mislead the Jews,
And make a mockery of their festival!
See, she has left the Master; and is running
Back to the city!

SAMARITAN WOMAN.
Oh, come see a man
Who hath told me all things that I ever did!
Say, is not this the Christ?

THE DISCIPLES.
Lo, Master, here
Is food, that we have brought thee from the city.
We pray thee eat it.

CHRISTUS.
I have food to eat
Ye know not of.

THE DISCIPLES, to each other.
Hath any man been here,
And brought Him aught to eat, while we were gone?

CHRISTUS.
The food I speak of is to do the will
Of Him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Do ye not say, Lo! there are yet four months
And cometh, harvest? I say unto you,
Lift up your eyes, and look upon the fields,
For they are white already unto harvest!

Una Fiesta de Venganza

Una Fiesta de Venganza (Marcos 6:21-29)

Durante la fiesta de cumpleaños de Herodes, nos encontramos que este le ofreció a la hija de Herodias hasta la mitad de su reino. Ella, instruida por su madre pidió en un plato la cabeza del profeta. Debido a los visitantes, y atado bajo el juramento se vio obligado a acceder a la petición que por mucho tiempo este trato de evitar que ocurriera. Por consecuencia, Herodias a través de su hija, logro llevar acabo su plan de venganza en contra del precursor de Cristo.

William Makepeace Thackeray quote

‘Tis not the dying for a faith that’s so hard, Master Harry – every man of every nation has done that – ’tis the living up to it that is difficult.
-William Makepeace Thackeray

Fear,Faith ,Worry..............and Dreams

As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.
-As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.
-Emmanuel Teney

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.
-Henry Ward Beecher

To me faith means not worrying.
-John Dewey

Faith isn’t the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It’s simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.
- Joni Erickson Tada

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.
-Mary Manin Morrissey

Let this cup pass from me

Lord Jesus, it is not Your will that Your people should suffer. And yet, I remember so well how You took on suffering for us all. Keep me now from losing hope as I face once again my infirmity. I feel the pain and ask of God, "Let this cup pass from me."

As I kneel with You in the garden, may I welcome another day with a prayer that echoes yours: "Not my wil but Thine be done." Let me never forget how to laugh, for laughter is Your gift to me to undo depression and heal the hurt of a sickness I cannot control. Then I will gladly walk Your way, to join in Your sacrifice of love, and I will not dwell upon the pain that leads my thoughts away from You.

Take me into Your gentle embrace, for I know that whatever this day brings, You have paved my way with Your tears and redeemed me with Your victory. Amen.

Prayer for Health, Wisdom, and a Sense of Humor

Prayer for Health, Wisdom, and a Sense of Humor

O Lord, give me a good digestion as well as something to digest. Give me health of body as well as the sense to keep it healthy. Give me a holy soul, O Lord, which keeps its eyes on beauty and purity, so that it will not be afraid on seeing sin. Give me a soul that knows nothing of boredom, groans, and sighs. Never let me be overly concerned for this inconstant thing that I call me. Lord, give me a sense of humor, so that I may take some happiness from this life, and share it with others. Amen.

A new lease of life

A new lease of life,
is what i long for some days.
On other days this same life,
seems exciting enough.
Some days are too tough to handle
some days have no time for reflection
someday s i have no tome to gaze at stars or
the rustling leaves and the chirping bird.
Some days , its all sweat and rush,
no time sit and talk
you wake up and find too little time,
for task a head and it bangs heavily on you,
Somedays its more of body ache ,
and somedays its no work at all.

But all days i would like ,
the climate to be cooler,
in mypart of country.
To have less noise and pollution,
To be greatful to the Lord for His grace.

i do not comprehend HIM

awesome are His ways
far from my minds realms,
i do not comprehend HIM
but want Him to comprehend me
which He surely does,
but iam not satisfied
He knows my bones and marrows
and every thought,
before it is brought out,
there is nothing in me,
that He cannot know,
for He is my maker'
and the maker knows
my makings more than me,
yet iam unsatisfied
and i say to Him,
still you have not known me,
for my rebellious heart knows'
His ways are not my ways.

y gracia sobre gracia."

"Pues de su plenitud todos hemos recibido, y gracia sobre gracia."

Juan 1:16 (LBLA)

To Do List From God

To Do List From God

I ran my life in search of worldly things;
My time and will were firmly in control.
I thought I had no need for what God brings;
I gave no heed to murmurs from my soul.

"You're planning, doing all the time," it said,
"But something else is missing deep inside.
Your mind is whirling, but your heart is dead,
So turn to God and let go of your pride."

I did, and God said, "Here's My plan for you:
Give your life to to Me, and just let go.
Have faith and pray, and read the Bible through,
And you'll have blessings more than you can know."

So simple, yet it brings me perfect peace,
Living life for God the way I should.
Direction, purpose, fullness and release-
Life with God is very, very good.

By Joanna Fuchs
Wonderful Mother's day
http://www.squidoo.com/Mothers-Day-Christian-Poems

Hagar and Ishamael

Hagar, cast out now of her home
all alone, in the desert,
with a baby clinging by her side,
she cried and cried,
to the one above,
why was i chosen by the mistress,
why did i ever taunt her barrenness
was not she the one, who chose from many,
to be that special bearer of the masters child
but lo, now iam all by myself ,
even the master , not sees my plight
but with a pot of water ,sent me outright.
Why did my son have to die
for what is not his fault
for though not born of Sarah,
he is surely Abrahams firstborn.
Will the Lord from heaven send me some help
let me go at distance ,for i cannot see my sons death.
Oh , my creator , who cares for the contrite,
surely send me some help,
and help me and my dying son.

By self

William Makepeace Thackeray's poem: "Ah, Bleak And Barren Was The Moor."

Ah! bleak and barren was the moor,
Ah! loud and piercing was the storm,
The cottage roof was shelter'd sure,
The cottage hearth was bright and warm--
An orphan-boy the lattice pass'd,
And, as he mark'd its cheerful glow,
Felt doubly keen the midnight blast,
And doubly cold the fallen snow.

They marked him as he onward press'd,
With fainting heart and weary limb;
Kind voices bade him turn and rest,
And gentle faces welcomed him.
The dawn is up--the guest is gone,
The cottage hearth is blazing still:
Heaven pity all poor wanderers lone!
Hark to the wind upon the hill!


William Makepeace Thackeray's poem: "Ah, Bleak And Barren Was The Moor."

Doubt Heralding Vision Author: George MacDonald

Doubt Heralding Vision
Author: George MacDonald

An angel saw me sitting by a brook,
Pleased with the silence, and the melodies
Of wind and water which did fall and rise:
He gently stirred his plumes and from them shook
An outworn doubt, which fell on me and took
The shape of darkness, hiding all the skies,
Blinding the sun, but giving to my eyes
An inextinguishable wish to look;
When, lo! thick as the buds of spring there came,
Crowd upon crowd, informing all the sky,
A host of splendours watching silently,
With lustrous eyes that wept as if in blame,
And waving hands that crossed in lines of flame,
And signalled things I hope to hold although I die!

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/14551/

Blessed Are The Meek, For They Shall Inherit The Earth -By George MacDonald

Blessed Are The Meek, For They Shall Inherit The Earth
Author: George MacDonald

A quiet heart, submissive, meek,
Father do thou bestow;
Which more than granted will not seek
To have, or give, or know.

Each green hill then will hold its gift
Forth to my joying eyes;
The mountains blue will then uplift
My spirit to the skies.

The falling water then will sound
As if for me alone;
Nay, will not blessing more abound
That many hear its tone?

The trees their murmuring forth will send,
The birds send forth their song;
The waving grass its tribute lend,
Sweet music to prolong.

The water-lily's shining cup,
The trumpet of the bee,
The thousand odours floating up,
The many-shaded sea;

The rising sun's imprinted tread
Upon the eastward waves;
The gold and blue clouds over head;
The weed from far sea-caves;

All lovely things from south to north,
All harmonies that be,
Each will its soul of joy send forth
To enter into me.

And thus the wide earth I shall hold,
A perfect gift of thine;
Richer by these, a thousandfold,
Than if broad lands were mine.

The Aurora Borealis- By George MacDonald

The Aurora Borealis
George MacDonald

Now have I grown a sharpness and an edge
Unto my future nights, and I will cut
Sheer through the ebon gates that yet will shut
On every set of day; or as a sledge
Drawn over snowy plains; where not a hedge
Breaks this Aurora's dancing, nothing but
The one cold Esquimaux' unlikely hut
That swims in the broad moonlight! Lo, a wedge
Of the clean meteor hath been brightly driven
Right home into the fastness of the north!
Anon it quickeneth up into the heaven!
And I with it have clomb and spreaded forth
Upon the crisp and cooling atmosphere!
My soul is all abroad: I cannot find it here!

The Inuits and their homeland

The Inuit live in such uninhabitable conditions ,and yet live such peaceful lives .They are mainly found in the coastal regions , nearer to the north pole, the arctic, in regions spanning canada, Alaska, Siberia, Greenland etc.They are hunters who hunt whales, seals, caribou etc.They use Dog sleds for travelling.
Amazing to see their lives.

How our Lord sustains us in different climates and meets our needs.

Jorge Luis Borges- A famous Argentinian Writer

Limits by Jorge Luis Borges

Of all the streets that blur in to the sunset,
There must be one (which, I am not sure)
That I by now have walked for the last time
Without guessing it, the pawn of that Someone

Who fixes in advance omnipotent laws,
Sets up a secret and unwavering scale
for all the shadows, dreams, and forms
Woven into the texture of this life.

If there is a limit to all things and a measure
And a last time and nothing more and forgetfulness,
Who will tell us to whom in this house
We without knowing it have said farewell?

Through the dawning window night withdraws
And among the stacked books which throw
Irregular shadows on the dim table,
There must be one which I will never read.

There is in the South more than one worn gate,
With its cement urns and planted cactus,
Which is already forbidden to my entry,
Inaccessible, as in a lithograph.

There is a door you have closed forever
And some mirror is expecting you in vain;
To you the crossroads seem wide open,
Yet watching you, four-faced, is a Janus.

There is among all your memories one
Which has now been lost beyond recall.
You will not be seen going down to that fountain
Neither by white sun nor by yellow moon.

You will never recapture what the Persian
Said in his language woven with birds and roses,
When, in the sunset, before the light disperses,
You wish to give words to unforgettable things.

And the steadily flowing Rhone and the lake,
All that vast yesterday over which today I bend?
They will be as lost as Carthage,
Scourged by the Romans with fire and salt.

At dawn I seem to hear the turbulent
Murmur of crowds milling and fading away;
They are all I have been loved by, forgotten by;
Space, time, and Borges now are leaving me.

Lot's Wife- A Poem by Anna Akhmatova

Lot's Wife by Anna Akhmatova

And the just man trailed God's shining agent,
over a black mountain, in his giant track,
while a restless voice kept harrying his woman:
"It's not too late, you can still look back

at the red towers of your native Sodom,
the square where once you sang, the spinning-shed,
at the empty windows set in the tall house
where sons and daughters blessed your marriage-bed."

A single glance: a sudden dart of pain
stitching her eyes before she made a sound . . .
Her body flaked into transparent salt,
and her swift legs rooted to the ground.

Who will grieve for this woman? Does she not seem
too insignificant for our concern?
Yet in my heart I never will deny her,
who suffered death because she chose to turn.

Anna Akhmatova-I Taught Myself To Live Simply

I Taught Myself To Live Simply by Anna Akhmatova

I taught myself to live simply and wisely,
to look at the sky and pray to God,
and to wander long before evening
to tire my superfluous worries.
When the burdocks rustle in the ravine
and the yellow-red rowanberry cluster droops
I compose happy verses
about life's decay, decay and beauty.
I come back. The fluffy cat
licks my palm, purrs so sweetly
and the fire flares bright
on the saw-mill turret by the lake.
Only the cry of a stork landing on the roof
occasionally breaks the silence.
If you knock on my door
I may not even hear.

Polish Poetry in Siberian Exile

Supplications

From hunger,

From marches,

From rain,

From lice,

From strong wind that slashes your face,

From fire’s warmth-when at night they order you to leave it,

From marshlike taiga that you sink in up to your knees,

From torn-off shoe soles,

From stolen breadbag-Save us, Lord!

From tundra lying on its back facing the sky,

From nightmare of white nights,

From swarms of mosquitoes,

From sudden and unexpected night marches,

From leaden dawns to sooty dusks,

- Holy God!

- Holy Almighty!

Holy and Immortal, save us, oh Lord!

We the sinners,

We the tired,

We the ones given up to vast expanses,

We the ones cast out to be eaten alive by the frozen wastes,

We the ones deprived of humanity and legal rights,

Trampled like grass,

Hounded down and rounded up-

We the louse-infested beggars,

We the ones stupefied by hunger,

We the nameless multitude

Poisoned by wrongdoings,

We the filthy,

We the ragged,

We at times the ludicrous,

We the consoled,

We the sinners,

You Lord God we beg,

The Living and True,

The One and Indivisible,

- Holy God!

- Holy Almighty!

- Holy and Everlasting, have mercy on us!

Through the last,

posthumous

Wound of thy Son

through His Blood and Suffering

Amen - Amen - Amen (1)

From-
Lives Remembered:
Polish Poetry in Siberian Exile
A Survivor's Daughter's Commentary
Halina Ablamowicz
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/105/251ablam.html#1

The Puppet- A beautiful poem by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Puppet

If for a moment God would forget that I am a rag doll and give me a scrap of life, possibly I would not say everything that I think, but I would definitely think everything that I say.

I would value things not for how much they are worth but rather for what they mean.

I would sleep little, dream more. I know that for each minute that we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of light.

I would walk when the others loiter; I would awaken when the others sleep.

I would listen when the others speak, and how I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream.

If God would bestow on me a scrap of life, I would dress simply, I would throw myself flat under the sun, exposing not only my body but also my soul.

My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hatred on ice and wait for the sun to come out. With a dream of Van Gogh I would paint on the stars a poem by Benedetti, and a song by Serrat would be my serenade to the moon.

With my tears I would water the roses, to feel the pain of their thorns and the incarnated kiss of their petals...My God, if I only had a scrap of life...

I wouldn't let a single day go by without saying to people I love, that I love them.

I would convince each woman or man that they are my favourites and I would live in love with love.

I would prove to the men how mistaken they are in thinking that they no longer fall in love when they grow old--not knowing that they grow old when they stop falling in love. To a child I would give wings, but I would let him learn how to fly by himself. To the old I would teach that death comes not with old age but with forgetting. I have learned so much from you men....

I have learned that everybody wants to live at the top of the mountain without realizing that true happiness lies in the way we climb the slope.

I have learned that when a newborn first squeezes his father's finger in his tiny fist, he has caught him forever.

I have learned that a man only has the right to look down on another man when it is to help him to stand up. I have learned so many things from you, but in the end most of it will be no use because when they put me inside that suitcase, unfortunately I will be dying.

translated by Matthew Taylor and Rosa Arelis Taylor

Antonio Goncalves Dias-A Brazilian Writer

The Song Of Exile

My homeland has many palm-trees
and the thrush-song fills its air;
no bird here can sing as well
as the birds sing over there.

We have fields more full of flowers
and a starrier sky above,
we have woods more full of life
and a life more full of love.

Lonely night-time meditations
please me more when I am there;
my homeland has many palm-trees
and the thrush-song fills its air.

Such delights as my land offers
Are not found here nor elsewhere;
lonely night-time meditations
please me more when I am there;
My homeland has many palm-trees
and the thrush-song fills its air.

Don't allow me, God, to die
without getting back to where
I belong, without enjoying
the delights found only there,
without seeing all those palm-trees,
hearing thrush-songs fill the air.

Antonio Goncalves Dias

Octavio Paz The Nobel Prize in Literature 1990

Motion

If you are the amber mare
I am the road of blood
If you are the first snow
I am he who lights the hearth of dawn
If you are the tower of night
I am the spike burning in your mind
If you are the morning tide
I am the first bird's cry
If you are the basket of oranges
I am the knife of the sun
If you are the stone altar
I am the sacrilegious hand
If you are the sleeping land
I am the green cane
If you are the wind's leap
I am the buried fire
If you are the water's mouth
I am the mouth of moss
If you are the forest of the clouds
I am the axe that parts it
If you are the profaned city
I am the rain of consecration
If you are the yellow mountain
I am the red arms of lichen
If you are the rising sun
I am the road of blood

Octavio Paz
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1990

Reluctance - Apoem by Robert Frost

Reluctance

Out through the fields and the woods
And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
And looked at the world and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch-hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
But the feet question 'Whither?'

Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?


Robert Frost

Helena Morley of Brazil

Helena Morley kept a diary from the age of twelve.Born to a British father and a Brazilian mother , Helena lived in a diamond mining town in Brazil.
Her diary translated by Elizabeth Bishop gives us a peek into the life of this girl.
Her real name was Alice Dayrell Caldeira Brant (August 28, 1880 – June 20, 1970) .
Read ---The Diary of "Helena Morley"
by Helena Morley

To be happy with a man

“To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.”

Helen Rowland quotes (English-American writer, 1876-1950)
“The woman who appeals to a man's vanity may stimulate him, the woman who appeals to his heart may attract him, but it is the woman who appeals to his imagination who gets him”

Helen Rowland quotes (English-American writer, 1876-1950)
“Women marry men hoping they will change. Men marry women hoping they will not. So each is inevitably disappointed.”

Albert Einstein quotes

- I'll Get Even -

"'Lord, this is what went wrong...I give it all to You, every detail, every barb, every frustration, the major things and the petty things.

May the pain I am feeling before healing, and not a spring of bitterness. May my hurts be Christ-centered, and for those involved, rather than self-centered and against them.'
Angela Ashwin"
Dorothy Valcàrcel, Author
When A Woman Meets Jesus
Dorothy@Transformationgarden.com

"A New Kind of Army" - Marketplace Meditations 4/25

"A New Kind of Army" - Marketplace Meditations 4/25: "God has called you to transform your view of yourself and your work. He desires to use you and your work life to impact your workplace, city and nation. Are you ready to beat your plowshare into a sword and your pruning hook into a spear?

Contact Os Hillman at www.marketplaceleaders.org."

My froward heart

Quiet, Lord, my froward heart,
Make me teachable and mild,
Upright, simple, free from art,
Make me as a weaned child;
From distrust and envy free,
Pleased with all that pleaseth Thee.
J. NEWTON.

-- Press Releases March 2010 - World Water Day 2010 Highlights Solutions and Calls for Action to Improve Water Quality Worldwide - United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) --

-- Press Releases March 2010 - World Water Day 2010 Highlights Solutions and Calls for Action to Improve Water Quality Worldwide - United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) --: "# Globally, 2 million tons of sewage and industrial and agricultural waste are poured into the world's waters every day;

# At least 1.8 million children under five years-old die every year from water-related diseases, or one every 20 seconds;

# Every day, millions of tons of inadequately treated sewage and industrial agricultural wastes are poured into the world's waters;

# More people die as a result of polluted water than are killed by all forms of violence, including wars;

# Over half of the world's hospital beds are occupied with people suffering from illnesses linked with contaminated water."

ICT and Mobility for Development | II International Meeting on ICT for Development Cooperation

ICT and Mobility for Development | II International Meeting on ICT for Development Cooperation

Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS

Focus areas: 4 P's

Child friendly schools

Child friendly schools

Leave behind your ideals as a legacy

Lord Wavell said: "People like to be remembered, not for the institutions they set up, but by the ideals they leave behind."
What are the ideals that we leave behind for our children, grand children, depends upon how much we followed certain principles and values, how much we maintained our integrity at compromising times, above all what was the personal relationship like with your children and how much time you gave them.

There is a desire in me to strive for excellence , to strive to maintain moral ethical values, to work hard, to stand up and speak up and be in action for the needs around.But above all , my tender children who may notice me say these things are also eager to have personal time with me, to talk , to share, to plan things with me.When i give them that time iam making my best investment.But its always not possible to do so, one has to make a choice ascertaining their best circumstances.

My Daughters Grade card

Today myself and my daughter went to collect her grade card , not the rank card, because the school does not believe in giving ranks but awards grades A, B , C based on on overall assessment.I was pleased with this very system , which made me to enroll her in this school.This method doesnot differentiates students, based on marks but gives a relative measure taking into account various factors.My daughter came out beeming and then went on to collect her new books for next year .
But i was reminded of my nightmares associted with certain subjects and their respective teachers who were the cause of it.Example my fear of Maths teacher which then later developed in me fear of maths though analytically iam quite bright.
How immensely pressurizing was my school system and how scared we students were of marks, tests, assignments everything.If i were to say, though school time is reminiscient of certain wonderful memories yet in terms of the educational load its one of the most horrible times.This i have heard from many many others.
Iam glad my daughter has a choice today to opt out from such perfomance oriented pressurizing systems and is able to go for alternatives which are child friendly,
bringing out the best in them , enhancing their creativity and fostering overall development and not just marks.

Waking up in the middle of the night

For past few days i have been up in the middle of night , quite disturbed , but unable to exactly locate the cause behind it.Iam just, at that moment reminded in a nightmarish way ,about some urgent need.I can sense my heart pound, and my breathing to be faster, i feel like the fleeing off to some safe refuge, but there is at the back of my mind , an urgency to pray about something or someone.I pray, i try to calm down, for it is not a pleasant experience, i remind myself that God is in control and He will not allow me to experience anything , beyond what i can bear.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - A Psalm of Life

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - A Psalm of Life

WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,--act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;--

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

renewing of your mind

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

How often i allow my mind to be renewed?
Sometimes even His words don't seem to offer the solace and comfort.
But yet I hope on His words, for there is nothing else which seems Stable, original, unique than the words of my heavenly father.
How often would have the psalmist complained, morned, groaned, how often help appeared delayed to him , yet his hope was always on the Lord.
Hold on , my soul, my spirit, onto the unchanging word , the fountain of life , you will find yourself renewed.
Ruth

your paths

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Psalm 25:
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Psalm 143:8

Iam not sure what to do ?
Iam at an important crossroad in my life, i have weighed long before pros and cons of my decision, above all and the first thing was to ask God to guide me in correct path.Knowing my limitations and my requirements i have thought and thought.Iam still waiting for the guidance.