Friday 13 July 2012

Friday - Thinking Positive, Thinking with wisdom

Positive.  Thinking positive.  Thinking with joy and love and peace.   Amazing how difficult it is sometimes when we get into a situation not of our making when people start throwing negative poison arrows at us.   Harsh words and harsher opinions deflat our love and joy and then we too become negative and forget the God of love. 
It takes much practice to turn ourselves around when the negative arrows are thrown to know how to keep our minds in God's love and joy.  It is called wisdom.  Prayers of protection are the best... quick prayers asking God to keep you in God's loving care.....    And a constant affirmation of who we are in God!  And that is called wisdom..... of keeping ourselves turned to a God of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and faithfulness.  

Friday retreat....
Prayer:    Wise and Loving God,  we ask that You impart to us today Your wisdom.  God of Joy and Peace,  we ask that You impart to us today Your joy and Your peace so that we can be Your hands and Your voice this day to those who need You.  This we ask in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Read St. Matthew  25: 1-13

The Parable of the Ten Virgins.    This is a story Jesus told about being prepared for the return of the Messiah.    Ten Virgins took their lamps to wait for the bridegrooms.  Five of them were foolish but did not take any oil with them.  Five wise virgins took extra oil in jugs.    At midnight the bridegrooms appeared…. and the five foolish virgins had no oil left in their lamps.  Their lamps were dark.  So they asked the five wise virgins if they would give them some oil.  The five wise virgins said, “No,  go purchase some instead.”  Off the five foolish virgins went  to purchase some more oil.  When they came back,  the doorway was shut.  The bridegrooms and the five wise virgins were inside the wedding banquet.

This is not a story about being prepared with oil but about being prepared for the return of the Messiah.  Jesus could have told this story about the five foolish preachers and the five wise preachers but Jesus told the story about weddings.  Weddings are times of great joy and happiness.   How much more will our joy and happiness be when the Messiah returns!  Yet Jesus says we are to do something while we wait.  We are to be prepared for the return of the Messiah but sharing our “light”.. our love of Christ…. we are to continually prepare ourselves by praying daily and reading/meditating upon Scripture…. we are to prepare ourselves by asking God, “What can I do for You today”.   We do not know the day he will return but we must continue in our work of spreading the Good News of God to each and every person we meet.

Almighty God,  we ask what we can do for Your today so that Your Good News is spread throughout the world.  This we ask in Jesus’ name.  Amen.
Many blessings!

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