www.fccville.org - FYI "For Your Inspiration"

The purpose of this page is to provide spiritual food for thought and reflection. Articles and ideas may be sent to the webmaster for posting.

Help Us to Believe in Beginnings

God of history and of our hearts,

so much has happened to us during these whirlwind days:

We've known death and birth;

We've been brave and scared;

We've hurt, We've helped;

We've been honest, We've lied;

we've destroyed, we've created;

we've been with people, we've been lonely;

we've been loyal, we've betrayed;

we've decided, we've waffled;

we've laughed and we've cried.

You know our frail hearts and our frayed history -

and now another year begins.

O God, help us to believe in beginnings

and in our own beginning again,

no matter how often we've failed before.

Help us to make beginnings:

to begin going out of weary minds

into fresh dreams,

daring to make own bold tracks

in the land of now;

to begin forgiving

that we may experience mercy;

to begin questioning the unquestionable

that we may know truth

to begin disciplining

that wemay create beauty;

to begin sacrificing

that we may make peace;

to begin loving

that we may realize joy.

Help us to be a beginning to others,

to be a singer to the songless,

a storyteller to the aimless,

a befriender of the friendless;

to become a beginning of hope for the despairing,

of assurance for the doubting,

of reconciliation for the divided;

to become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,

of comfort for the sorrowing,

of friendship for the forgotten;

to become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,

of sweetness for the soured,

of gentleness for the angry,

of wholeness for the broken,

of peace for the frightened and violent of the earth.

Help us to believe in beginnings,

to make a beginning,

to be a beginning,

so that we may not just grow old,

but grow new

each day of this wild, amazing life

you call us to live

with the passion of Jesus Christ.

Source unknown

A Life That Makes A Difference

"How do you account for your remarkable accomplishment in life?" Queen Victoria of England asked Helen Keller. "How do you explain the fact that even though you were both blind and deaf, you were able to accomplish so much?"

Ms. Keller's answer is a tribute to her dedicated teacher. "If it had not been for Anne Sullivan, the name of Helen Keller would have remained unknown."

Speaker Zig Ziglar tells about "Little Annie" Sullivan, as she was called when she was young. Little Annie was no stranger to hardship. She was almost sightless herself (due to a childhood fever) and was, at one time, diagnosed as hopelessly "insane" by her caregivers. She was locked in the basement of a mental institution outside of Boston. On occasion, Little Annie would violently attack anyone who came near. Most of the time she generally ignored everyone in her presence.

An elderly nurse believed there was hope, however, and she made it her mission to show love to the child. Every day she visited Little Annie. For the most part, the child did not acknowledge the nurse's presence, but she still continued to visit. The kindly woman left cookies for her and spoke words of love and encouragement. She believed Little Annie could recover, if only she were shown love.

Eventually, doctors noticed a change in the girl. Where they once witnessed anger and hostility, they now noted an emerging gentleness and love. They moved her upstairs where she continued to improve. Then the day finally came when this seemingly "hopeless" child was released.

Anne Sullivan grew into a young woman with a desire to help others as she, herself, was helped by the loving nurse. It was she who saw the great potential in Helen Keller. She loved her, disciplined her, played with her, pushed her, and worked with her until the flickering candle that was her life became a beacon of light to the world. Anne Sullivan worked wonders in Helen's life, but it was a loving nurse who first believed in Little Annie and lovingly transformed an uncommunicative child into a compassionate teacher.

"If it had not been for Anne Sullivan, the name of Helen Keller would have remained unknown." But if it had not been for a kind and dedicated nurse, the name of Anne Sullivan would have remained unknown. And so it goes. Just how far back does the chain of redemption extend? And how for forward will it lead?

Those you have sought to reach, whether they be in your family or elsewhere, are part of a chain of love that can extend through the generations. Your influence on their lives, whether or not you see results, is immeasurable. Your legacy of dedicated kindness and caring can transform lost and hopeless lives for years to come.

You can never overestimate the power of your love. It is a fire that, once lit, may burn forever.

Prop Us Up On The Leanin’side

Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed, 'Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side..' After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.

He answered, 'Well sir, you see, it's like this... I got an old barn out back. It's been there a long time; it's withstood a lot of weather; it's gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years.

It's still standing. But one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit.

So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall.

Then I got to thinking about that and how much I was like that old barn. I've been around a long time. I've withstood a lot of life's storms. I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I've withstood a lot of hard times, and I'm still standing too. But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side, 'cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning at times.

Sometimes we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward cussing, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't. So we need to pray, 'Lord, prop us up on our leaning side, so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify the Lord..''

Fireflies

For those of you who enjoy a good firefly show as much as I, here are a few facts you can spring on the unsuspecting at the backyard BBQs you frequent this summer:

*Did you know that fireflies aren't really on fire, nor are they really flies? They are, in fact, beetles!

*Did you know that fireflies shine their lights on and off as a form of loving communication? Some species
actually synchronize their lights with the lights of those around them--kind of like a mini version of

Spielberg's "Close Encounters"!

    *Did you know that only about 10% of the energy expended in light bulbs becomes the visible light we see?
      The other 90% of the energy is wasted as heat. Fireflies are almost 100% efficient in the light they
      generate!

There you have it--more than you ever wanted to know about fireflies, but were sensible enough not to ask! Now you can go forth and annoy your entire neighborhood with firefly trivia. But, before you go, let me see if I can throw in a few spiritual applications into this firefly factoring.

The first thing that occurred to me as I stood and gazed at the firefly's finery is that, in the darkness around them, all you see is the light. You don't see the outline of the beetle, you don't see the wings, or legs or their itty-bitty heads--all you see is the light. So, in a way, what we have come to recognize as fireflies, is really only the light God has enabled them to make. We are recognizing the light, not the actual bug.

The Christian application should be pretty obvious. Paul, speaking to the Christians, in Ephesus said: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them."(Eph. 5:8-11) Christians are to be fireflies for the Lord. The more we reflect His light; the more people see Christ, and not our own itty-bitty heads, the better it will be for us, and the Church.

Here's a question for you: Are you a Christian light bulb or a Christian firefly? Do you expend 90% of your energy in heat and only 10% in reflecting a Christ-like light, or, is your energy much more focused on shining Christ's light with 100% of your energy? Seems to me we Christians, myself included, generate a lot more heat than light! We are much better at producing fallen friction than Christ-like reflection. Let's all make it our goal to communicate with more light than heat!

-source unknown-

Cleaning Out the Clutter

Whew! It was tough, but we got it done. Instead of waiting till Spring, we launched into cleaning out the garage and the attic. It seemed like a good time — it was the right temperature, we were going to have to put away the Christmas stuff anyway, and all of us were home. Sure, it was a big, dirty, ugly job, but we launched into it.

We’ve gotten rid of a bunch of junk that we were saving for no apparent reason. Anything that hasn’t been used in several years is now gone. We either threw it away or set it aside for a resale shop. No more tripping over it. No more arguing about it. No more letting it clutter up our lives. Our garage and attic are neat, clean, and uncluttered. It’s a minor miracle.

Now comes the hard part: cleaning out the junk in my heart and head that I’ve been saving for no apparent reason! It’s one thing to get a new start on a new year, a new day, or a new life, but for it to be really new, we’ve got to put down the old bags of garbage and junk. As Rich Mullins put it in one of his last songs, it often seems “we can’t see what’s ahead and we cannot get free of what we’ve left behind” (from the song “Hard to Get”). We must give them up for us to get on to something new!

But we can get free. We can clean out the clutter. We may not know what’s ahead, but we can let ourselves go free from what’s behind. It’s not easy. We’re not like God who can forgive the past and then forget it. In fact, the more we try to forget something, the more we seem to remember it. But we can quick picking it up and looking at it. We can set it aside and make room for new things. We don’t have to keep tripping over the same clutter. We can clean it out by giving it up to the Lord — let him forgive it and take lordship over it. But we must give it up — stack up the bundles of our past regrets, mistakes, sins, and hurts and give them up. It may mean writing all our regrets down on a sheet of paper and burning them or burying them. Or it may mean mentally jotting them down and visualizing Jesus taking an eraser and removing them completely. But we must give them up for us to get on to something new!

I’m not suggesting we simplistically pretend our mistakes and sins didn’t happen. We can’t stop consequences from our past from sometimes reappearing. But we can quit picking up the problems and “what iffing” them to death! We can quit going over them again and again in our minds. We can clean them out and if we re-find them, or they re-find us, we can consciously give them up again!

Peter denied the Lord three times in his most needed hour. Paul persecuted Christians before he knew the Lord. Neither could completely escape his past. But they chose to set them aside and not live with them. Instead, they chose to live for the Lord and let him take care of the past. As Paul put it, “Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead, I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

So how about the clutter in your heart? Is there anything you need to clean out and throw out so you can go on to the Lord’s future for you? Then clean it out and let him help you start fresh and finish strong!