Beginnings of True Discipleship...

"Read and pray daily.

It is for your life;

There is no other way:

Else you will be a trifler

All your days."

~John Wesley

True Love...

A friend of mine, Jeannie Harper, posted this on Facebook today...  It is such a good reminder of what true love is about, that I am re-posting it here.  Thank you Jeannie!! 
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"Is it possible for the rose to say, 'I will give my fragrance to the good people who smell me, but I will withhold it from the bad?' 

Or is it possible for the lamp to say, 'I will give my light to the good people in this room, but I will withhold it from the evil people?'

Or can a tree say, 'I'll give my shade to the good people who rest under me, but I will withhold it from the bad?'

These are images of what love is about."

~Anthony de Mello, Jesuit Priest (1931 - 1987)

A Prayer...

I came across this today as I was taking some time for prayer and thought I would share it with you.

Set us afire, Lord,
Stir us, we pray!
While the world perishes
We go our way,
Purposeless, passionless,
Day after day.
Set us afire, Lord,
Stir us, we pray!
      ~Ralph S. Cushman


I pray the Lord will bless you, "stir you" and "set you afire" to do his will on this day and every day to come!

Day 17... The Lenten Journey Continues...

One of them, an expert in the Law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

     ~Matthew 22:35-40


Do all the good you can,
By all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.

     ~John Wesley


As you reflect back on how today has gone, how have you done in the categories of loving God and loving others?

a meditation for today...

This meditation is taken from: 
Let Nothing Disturb You: A Journey to the Center of the Soul with Teresa of Avila,
edited by John Kirvan, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, IN, 1996

"Our Lord asks but two things of us:  love for God and love for our neighbor.  These are the two virtues that we must strive to attain.  If we practice them perfectly we shall be doing the will of God, and so will find the union we seek.  The most certain sign that we keep these two commandments is that we have a genuine love for each other.  We may not know for certain whether we love God, but there can be no doubt whether or not we love our neighbor.

If we fail to love our neighbor, we are deceiving ourselves if we think we love God.
But if we possess a true love of neighbor, we will certainly attain union with our Lord.

Beg God grant you true love of others and you will be rewarded with more than you know how to desire.  God will insist that you surrender your self interests for those of your neighbors, taking upon yourself their burdens.  Do not believe that this will cost you nothing and that you will find it all done for you by God.  Never forget what the love God bore for all of us cost the Son of God.  To free others - his neighbors - from death he suffered the most painful death of all, the death of the cross."
   ~Teresa of Avila

doing good...

As a new work week began for many people today, remember these words from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. I pray they will color your actions and interactions with others, helping you to show God's love to others.

"Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can."
~John Wesley

Meditate on this...

As I was looking through a book that I'd read a couple years ago (The Story of Evangelism by Robert G. Tuttle, Jr.) I found this on page 391 and thought I'd share:


The fruit of Silence is Prayer.
The fruit of Prayer is Faith.
The fruit of Faith is Love.
The fruit of Love is Service.
The fruit of Service is Peace.
    ~Mother Teresa