BORED

Writing a daily inspirational article can be a daunting task. Trying to keep one’s readers attention day after day is challenging to say the least. As I ponder this challenge day after day I am reminded of the following story.

After a long, dry sermon, the minister announced that he wished to meet with the church board after the service. The first man to arrive was a total stranger. “You misunderstood my announcement. This is a meeting of the board,” said the minister. “I know,” said the man. “If there is anyone here more bored than I am, I’d like to meet him."

Thank you all who take the time to read these daily messages. At least to this point, no one has invented a way for you to “throw tomatoes” in my face through the computer.

Someone once said, “Having someone who understands you is home. Having someone who loves you is belonging. Having both is a blessing.” I do not know your situation, but as for me, I am truly blessed.

Cheer up someone today,

Mike

You can view Mike's Daily Blessings at http://www.TheWoods.phpbbnow.com

Lessons From Snow (Contributed by Alan Smith)

Dear diary,

AUG. 12
Moved to our new home. It is so beautiful here, the mountains are so majestic. Can hardly wait to see snow covering them.

DEC. 8
It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our coffee and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a postcard. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!

DEC. 9
We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. Can there be a more lovely place in the whole world? Moving here was the best idea I've ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a beautiful place; I love it here!

DEC. 12
The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment. My neighbor tells me not to worry, we'll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow again. I don't think that's possible. Bob is such a nice man. I'm glad he's our neighbor.

DEC. 14
Snow, lovely snow! 8" last night. The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way. I wish I wouldn't huff and puff so.

DEC. 15
20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife's car and two extra shovels. Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.

DEC. 16
Ice storm. Roads are too icy to go anywhere. Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit it to her. Boy, do I hate it when she's right. I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.

DEC. 20
Electricity's back on, but had another 14" of the nasty stuff last night. More shoveling. Took all day. Stupid snowplow came by twice. Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey. I think they're lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they're out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they're lying.

DEC. 22
Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of that white mess fell today, and it's so cold it probably won't melt till August. Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to use the bathroom. By the time I got undressed, went and dressed again I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter; but he says he's too busy. I think the jerk is lying.

DEC. 24
6 more inches. Snow packed so hard by snowplow, l broke the shovel. If I ever catch the guy who drives that snowplow, I'll drag him through the snow by his fingernails. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street and throws snow all over where I've just been! Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was busy watching for the snowplow.

DEC. 25
Merry Christmas. 20 more inches of the messy slop tonight. Snowed in! The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. Oh, I hate the snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she's an idiot.

DEC. 26
Still snowed in. Why did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She's really getting on my nerves.

DEC. 27
Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze.

DEC. 29
10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That's the silliest thing I ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?

DEC. 30
Roof caved in. The snow plow driver is suing me for a million dollars. The wife went home to her mother. Another 9" predicted.

JAN. 2
Weatherman says it's the warmest winter they have ever had, but looks like a cold streak is coming.

The Bible speaks often about snow. It is used to remind us of the power of God:

"For He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth'; Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength." {Job 37:6}.

The whiteness of snow is also used to express the purity we experience after God forgives us of our sins:

"Says the LORD, 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." {Isa. 1:18}.

And snow serves as an illustration of what God's Word can accomplish:

"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." {Isa. 55:10-11}.

Praise be to the God who created snow!





With all the snow around the country right now, we're even getting it in the south today; I thought this would be appropriate. Oh, I know, many of you are sick and tired of the snow. I understand, you have had more than your share and it has disrupted lives. It does serve to let us know who is in control of the universe. Humbling isn't it? When life gives us snow it's a good idea to make more snow cream and buffer our desire to scream.

Have a safe day. This might be a good day to phone a shut-in or email someone you've neglected for a time.

Be blessed,
Mike

You can view Mike's Daily Blessings at http://www.TheWoods.phpbbnow.com

“Rise, let us be going.” MATTHEW 26:46

The disciples went to sleep when they should have kept awake, and when they realized what they had done it produced despair. The sense of the irreparable is apt to make us despair, and we say—“It is all up now, it is no use trying any more.” If we imagine that this kind of despair is exceptional, we are mistaken, it is a very ordinary human experience. Whenever we realize that we have not done that which we had a magnificent opportunity of doing, then we are apt to sink into despair; and Jesus Christ comes and says—“Sleep on now, that opportunity is lost for ever, you cannot alter it, but arise and go to the next thing.” Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ, and go out into the irresistible future with Him.

There are experiences like this in each of our lives. We are in despair, the despair that comes from actualities, and we cannot lift ourselves out of it. The disciples in this instance had done a downright unforgivable thing; they had gone to sleep instead of watching with Jesus, but He came with a spiritual initiative against their despair and said—“Arise and do the next thing.” If we are inspired of God, what is the next thing? To trust Him absolutely and to pray on the ground of His Redemption.

Never let the sense of failure corrupt your new action. {“My Utmost For His Highest”, Oswald Chambers, 1935}.

My wish for you and I today is that we may put bygones behind us, learn from our mistakes and move forward with renewed determination to do the right thing.


Rise, go now and do good for someone and for yourself.

Mike

What Good Will Yesterday Do You Today?

"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could...Tomorrow is a new day: begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays." RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Good morning daily friends! I have breaking news for you. Yesterday is history! Gone, finished, done and not retrievable. Forget it! You have today to think about. If that isn't enough, then you must be asleep.

Oh Mike you're thinking, "I can at least learn from yesterday's mistakes and enjoy the great memories." True, but your focus is already strayed from today.
Save that to sit down with tonight and combine with today's good memories.

Today, this morning, right now, commit to being all you can be. Instead of using your "break" today wastefully why not call an old friend and say hi. Maybe even schedule a get together. A life-long friend did that for me yesterday and I have suddenly forgotten how badly I've been feeling lately. Now that is a friend that can be appreciated.

I challenge you and me to perform a random act of kindness today. Just once, try it without expecting anything to gain from it. Do it because it is the right thing to do!

Until tomorrow,

Mike

You can view Mike's Daily Blessings at http://www.TheWoods.phpbbnow.com

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The Miracle Worker


Imagine that you could not see these words or hear them spoken! This was the case for a young girl named Helen Adams Keller (1880-1968) who lost both her vision and hearing at the age of 18 months. At the age of 7, her parents decided to hire a teacher to try to help her to somehow overcome this seemingly impossible handicap. Her breakthrough story is one of the most remarkable cases in history...

Helen once asked her teacher, Anne Sullivan, what God's name was. Anne finger-spelled “G-O-D” into Helen's hand, and the young blind and deaf girl smiled. Helen finger-spelled her reply: "I ALWAYS KNEW who He was, and NOW I know
HIS NAME!"

Amazing! And isn’t this truth EXACTLY what we learn from God’s Word?
“For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been CLEARLY SEEN, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Romans 1:20 NIV).

Even though Helen Keller could not see or hear, she KNEW of God’s existence because of “what has been made.”

"I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a GOD-MADE world, NOT a manmade world." Helen Keller.

What a remarkable observation for one so severely handicapped...
For a young girl who was blind and deaf from the age of 18 months, she understood the nature of the world around her better than many. She lived in SILENCE. She lived in DARKNESS. But even in her dark and silent world, she KNEW of the existence of God! There is certainly NO excuse for YOU and ME!

Observe some more of the insights of this remarkable woman:

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” -- H. Keller

“I thank God for my handicaps, for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God." -- H. Keller

"There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark." -- H. Keller

Helen Keller’s teacher, Anne Sullivan, “is remembered as ‘the Miracle Worker’
for her lifetime dedication, patience and love to a half-wild southern child trapped in
a world of darkness and silence.” *
* From the website of the Helen Keller Birthplace Foundation -- http://www.helenkellerbirthplace.org/about_helen/about_helen.html

Helen Keller, with her life’s story and her faith, point us to THE Miracle Worker: JESUS CHRIST, who through our obedient faith rescues US from the dominion of darkness and brings us into His kingdom of light and life (Colossians 1:13).

THE Miracle Worker will rescue THOSE who believe in Him (Acts 16:30-31). Must also put that belief into action and live obedient to the only One who can still make miracles.

Show the Light to someone today.

Mike

You can view Mike's Daily Blessings at http://www.TheWoods.phpbbnow.com