Don’t dance so fast,

Posted on October 19, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s a bit of homespun wisdom that says:
‘Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask, how are you? do you hear the reply?
When the day is done do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?
You’d better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow
and in your haste not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a friendship die
’cause you never had time to call and say hi?
You’d better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
you miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day
it’s an unopened gift thrown away.
Life isn’t a race, so take it slower
hear the music before your song is over.’

Posted in Life, Life's journey, Life's lessons | Leave a comment

Personality is a bit like soup

Posted on October 19, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Henry Wingblade used to say that Christian personality is hidden deep inside us. It is unseen, like the soup carried in a tureen high over a waiter’s head. No one knows what’s inside the tureen, unless the waiter is bumped and happens to slip, and then out it all comes. Just so, people don’t know really what’s inside us until we’ve been bumped and made to slip. It’s then that we reveal what’s really inside us. But if it’s the spirit of Christ that lives within us, what spills out is the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Left to ourselves none of that comes naturally. But those inner qualities of abundant life do come naturally to people who have and are being spiritually renewed by a living relationship with God.

Posted in Character, Failure, Fruits of the Spirit | Leave a comment

Growing great simply

Posted on October 18, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Impresario Sol Hurok said that Marian Anderson, one of the most celebrated opera singers of the century, hadn’t simply grown great, she’d grown great simply. He said: ‘A few years ago a reporter asked her to name the greatest moment in her life. I was in her dressing room at the time and was curious to hear the answer. I knew she had many big moments to choose from, including a private concert at the White House for the Roosevelts and the King and Queen of England; and that Easter Sunday when she stood beneath the Lincoln statue and sang for a crowd of seventy five thousand. But she didn’t choose any of them. Instead she told the reporter that the greatest moment of her life was the day she went home and told her mother she wouldn’t have to take in washing anymore.’ That’s greatness

Posted in Accomplishments, Character, Greatness, humility | Leave a comment

Barbers don’t exist

Posted on October 18, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

A man went to a barbershop for a haircut, and he and the barber got to talk about many things, including belief in God. The barber said he didn’t believe in God because there’s so much injustice in the world. The customer didn’t know how to respond, but after he left the shop he saw a man with long, dirty hair. So he went back and said to the barber: ‘Barbers don’t exist.’ ‘Don’t be stupid,’ the barber said. So he showed him the man with the unkempt hair and said: ‘By your reasoning, the fact that there are people on the streets with long, dirty hair means that barbers don’t exist.’ ‘But that’s because they don’t come to me,’ the barber answered. ‘Exactly!” affirmed the customer. ‘That’s the point! God, too, exists, but people ignore Him, and that’s why there’s so much pain and injustice in the world.’

Posted in Atheism, God, Injustice | 10 Comments

Grace does not depend on what we’ve done for God

Posted on October 13, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Over the years there have been so many extras that have been added to the teachings of Jesus that He wouldn’t recognize much of what most people think Christianity is. Heading the list would be the common assumption that to be a Christian you have to earn God’s favour by your own efforts. But Christianity is all about grace – God’s love for us despite what we are.
Philip Yancey said, ‘Jesus forgave a thief dangling on a cross knowing full well he’d converted out of plain fear. That thief would never study the Bible, never go to church, and never make amends to those he’d wronged. He simply said: “Jesus, remember me,” and Jesus promised: “Today you’ll be with me in Paradise.”’
It was another reminder that grace does not depend on what we’ve done for God but rather on what God has done for us.

Posted in God, God's love, Grace, Gratitude | Leave a comment

Dust if you must

Posted on October 13, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Rose Milligan, in a thought provoking piece of wisdom about making the most of life, wrote these words:
‘Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better
to paint a picture, or write a letter,
bake a cake, or plant a seed;
ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there’s not much time,
with rivers to swim, and mountains to climb;
music to hear, and books to read;
friends to cherish, and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world’s out there
with the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair;
a flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
this day will not come round again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
old age will come and it’s not kind.
And when you go (and go you must)
you yourself, will make more dust.’

As the Bible says: ‘God gives us richly all things to enjoy.’ Let’s make sure we do it.

Posted in Abundant life, enjoyment, Enrichment, Life, Life's journey, Life's lessons | Leave a comment

I had lunch with God

Posted on October 13, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

A little boy once packed a lunch and went off to see if he could find God. At the park he met a lonely old woman staring at the pigeons. He sat next to her and offered her a sandwich. She took it and gave him such a beautiful smile that he wanted to see it again, so he offered her his can of drink. Once again she smiled. They sat there for ages, eating and smiling, but never said a word. Finally, he got up, gave her a hug, and she gave him her biggest smile ever. When he got home, his mother asked him what had happened. He said, “I had lunch with God, and you know what? She’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!” The old woman also went home, where her son asked what had made her so happy. She replied, ‘I ate sandwiches in the park with God, and, you know, he’s much younger than I expected.’

Posted in God, God in us, God's pleasure, God's presence | Leave a comment

I will live forever

Posted on October 13, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Robert Test, writing about his eventual demise, said this: The day will come when my body will lie in a hospital busily occupied with the living and the dying. Don’t call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives. Give my eyes to a man who has never seen a sunrise. Give my heart to someone whose own heart has caused nothing but pain. Give my blood to the teenager pulled from the wreckage of his car. Give my kidneys to someone who depends on a machine to exist. Then scatter the ashes of what is left of me to the winds to help the flowers grow; and if you must bury something let it be my faults and prejudices. Then, if by chance you wish to remember me, do it with a kind word or deed to someone who needs it; and I will live forever.

Posted in Death, Eternal life, Giving, Life | Leave a comment

The only thing we should fear

Posted on October 13, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

When I was in the army our instructors used to tell us that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. Anthony de Mello, similarly, tells the story of a mouse who lived in constant distress because of its fear of the cat. A magician took pity on it and turned it into a cat. But then it became afraid of the dog. So the magician turned it into a dog. Then it began to fear the panther, so the magician turned it into a panther. Whereupon it was full of fear for the hunter. At this point, the magician gave up. He turned it into a mouse again saying, “Nothing I do for you is going to be of any help because you have the heart of a mouse.”
It reminds us that is fear itself, and the answer to that is a new heart – a heart of faith.

Posted in Character, Courage, Fear, Heart, New Heart | Leave a comment

You’re part of the ocean.

Posted on October 13, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s a story about a little wave bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time, enjoying the wind and the fresh air — until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore. ‘This is terrible,’ the wave says. ‘Look what’s going to happen to me!’ Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and says to him, ‘Why do you look so sad?’ The first wave says, ‘You don’t understand! We’re all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! This is terrible?’ The second wave says, ‘No, YOU don’t understand. You’re not just a wave, you’re part of the ocean.’
So, when you worry about your own mortality, remember that the Bible says: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.’

Posted in Assurance, Death, Despair, Eternal life, Eternity, Hope, Life, Life's journey | Leave a comment