Keep Your True Friends Close

This past Sunday I spent about 6 hours with some of my best friends in the world. I moved away this past year, and I've missed these people so much. And I realized, at some point during the day, that this was truly love. I knew I would be there for these people at any time for absolutely anything, and I knew they'd be there for me as well. I also realized that I would be so utterly lost and lonely without them in my life. I gave thanks to God for being fortunate enough to meeting such wonderful people in my life, and was inspired to write a prayer about it.
Lord,
Thank you for blessing me with such amazing people as best friends. Please bless them in whatever they do. Give them peace when they are worried, comfort when they are scared, and show them Your love when they are upset. Protect them Lord, because they are some of the best people I know, and they deserve it. Lord, please show Your love to those who are not as fortunate as me. Find friends for those without good friends, Lord, because everyone deserves a true friend to love and care about them.
Amen.

In Light of the Looming Hurricane...

...I thought it might be a good idea to write something about it. I have experienced several hurricanes, although I have never been very close to the coast. For the most part, it is a lot of strong winds and rain. But it can be scary. And so we pray...

Lord,

Help me understand that You allow these serious storms. But You must have a reason. I know You would never cause me harm. You know what You are doing. But I don't, Lord. Help me to understand that I may not know what will happen in the future. But I trust You to guide me and protect me. Please protect me from the danger of the storm that is approaching. And please help me to trust in You and Your divine plan.

Amen.

Stress and the Bible, and Ways to Cope

Hello new school year! And hello stress and the constant feeling of sleep deprivation. As the new school year begins, we all begin to feel a little run-down already. With adjusting to getting up at 6 again, to making amnends to our schedules, to getting used to the pressures that the new school year always brings, everyone feels the wear on them soon. I find myself wanting to move on from this year already, when it's only just begun! I figured I'm not the only one feeling the stress of school, so i decided to look up what the Bible says about stress and relaxation: "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. (John 4.1)" Jesus calmly assures us that we need only to believe in God and Him to find peace in our lives. For nothing can compare to the peace the Lord Himself can give to us. "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)" God gives us many examples in the Bible all basically instructing the same thing: go to Him, love Him, believe in Him, and you shall find peace. In addition, to believing in God, coping strategies couldn't hurt. :] One suggestion I found, other than the obvious ones like stay healthy, excercise, and learn to manage your time well, is to try to find lots of humor in your everyday life. Laughing is not only healthy, but good for the soul. Good luck putting some of these strategies into use! And on a final note, remember, the Lord says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)"

There is a reason why God made smiling a lot easier than frowning.....he wants us to be happy. God wants us to laugh and enjoy life. He wants us to smile every day to show that nothing can bring us down. Smiling is the best way to spread happiness because it makes the sun shine on a rainy day, and just one smile can make the pain go away. Yes there are days of sadness and days to mourn, but God will help us every step of the way to bring that smile back as long as we have faith.

Let us pray that there will be more smiles each day,
That happiness will spread throughout the world.
And let us pray that our happiness will never fade away.

Amen.

An Old Irish Blessing

I received this prayer card from a Catholic high school. It has this really nice old Irish blessing on it. I thought I would post it as my prayer this week, because it is definitely something for which I pray. I also wrote my own prayer in reaction - it is similar, but not identical. I guess you could say it is "inspired" by the blessing that I received in the mail.

Here is the original:

Give me a few friends
who will love me for what I am

And keep ever burning before my vagrant steps
the kindly light of hope

And though I come not within sight of the castle of the dreams
teach me to be thankful for life
and for times olden memories that are good and sweet

And may the evening's twilight find me gentle still.


Now here is my reaction:

Lord,

Grant me the love of friends who appreciate me for who I am
And help me to love and appreciate them.

Though I wander from your path, help me to hope
and to find my way home.

Though I may never achieve all that I wish,
Help me to achieve what you have planned for me.

Teach me to be thankful for your blessings
For the life that I am lucky to live
And for time and the wonderful memories I have created with the ones I love

And when I die, let me be satisfied with my life
a life of goodness and love.

Amen.

Baby Birds, Life, and God

Today I was outside doing yard work with my Mom, when one of my three little brothers runs over and announces, frantically, "A baby bird from the nest in the front yard! It's dead! It fell out of the tree!" My mom and I went to the front yard, and, sure enough, a dead baby robin was on the ground beneath the small tree. I looked up, and observed a sizeable hole in the bottom of the nest, in which I could see part of the only remaining baby bird poking out. We took the dead bird, and buried it in a hole in the woods, and my brothers went inside. I looked in distress at the baby bird who would surely meet the same fate soon, as long as the hole remained. I'd just worked for an hour and a half in the sun, hadn't eaten lunch yet, and was thirsty enough to drink an entire water bottle all on my own, yet something compelled me to try to help the remaining bird. I looked at my mom and she understood, and went to get a ladder, as I craned my neck to see the bird, making sure I would catch it if it fell. She came back with a ladder, and a piece of a cloth surgical mask. The cloth was big enough that I could slip it under the baby bird, to close up the hole, but then what was to stop it from falling down as soon as I took my hand away? I maneuvered as much as I could while on the ladder to find a suitable stick act like a bar and put across the cloth. This led to having to find something to secure the sticks, which tuned out to be rubber bands. At the end of the endeavor, I was sweating and panting with concentration in the heat of the day. When I was finally satisfied with my handiwork, and as I walked into my house, I wondered why I felt like I needed to do that. I'm currently planning for a party this Saturday, and have a thousand other things to do. Why did I feel the need to save one baby robin? As I wondered about this, I though about a book I recently read: "The Five People You Meet In Heaven," by Mitch Albom. It was a very thought-provoking and inspirational book, and I thought of a particular chapter, about life and death, and why people were so unerringly drawn to babies and funerals. The book said, "It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect. That death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed." Now, the author wasn't talking specifically about baby birds, but the basic idea reminded me of the unexplainable desire to help the bird. It was helpless, innocent. And I had the power to save it, or at least to exert a little effort to try. The simple truth is, if we all took the time to give in to that little helpful desire, there'd be a few more baby birds alive in the world. And if more people applied that mindset to everyday situations, there'd be a few more tender hearts, too.

Thank You

My God,

Thank You for the air that I breathe,
for it gives me the ability to sing and bring music to those around me.

Thank You for the food and water you give me each day,
for it gives me energy and strength to wake up and enjoy a new day.

Thank you for the roof above my head and the clothes on my body,
for they both protect me and keep me warm.

And Thank You for Your kindness,
for You are the reason why I am alive.

Amen.

There are so many things to be thankful for such as presents, friends, a family, or even simple things like air. We never realize how lucky we are until we lose everything. Be thankful for what you have because you cannot have everything in the world. Everything you have right now is more than enough to live with.