The fingerprints of God

Posted on May 24, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Professor David Tacey, in his best seller ‘The Spirituality Revolution,’ says that despite the exodus from organised religion in our society, there is also a profound sense of spiritual emptiness,and a desperate search for a transcendant reality beyond the confines of the material world. We get a sense of it in beauty, which is why most of us can be profoundly moved by a certain piece of music or poetry – both of which bypass the limitations of reason and touch the spirit. Theologian Tom Wright calls these things: “the fingerprints of God.”
Whereas science confines, explains and reduces the objective world, we all long for times when we connect with something greater than ourselves and experience something fathomless and ineffable. And Jesus said we’ll find it if we just open our minds to seek it.

Posted in Fingerprints of God, God, Searching, Spiritual Insight, Spirituality revolution | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

No slackers wanted

Posted on May 24, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

The newly appointed CEO of Arcelor Mittal Steel a few years ago was determined to purge the company of slackers. One morning he noticed a young man leaning against a wall. So, to show he meant business, he asked him how much he got paid each week. The young man said he earned four hundred dollars. So the CEO went to his office and returned with sixteen hundred dollars. ‘Here’s four weeks’ pay.’ He said. ‘Now get out and don’t come back.’
Feeling pretty good, he looked around the room and asked, ‘Does anyone want to tell me what that goof-ball did around here?’ From across the room a voice said, ‘He’s the Pizza delivery guy from Domino’s.’
It’s another reason why we should always take heed of that great biblical principle of not making judgements based on superficial assesments of people.

Posted in Foolishness, Judgementalism, Superficial judgements | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Throwing your treasure away

Posted on May 23, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s an ancient legend from the Black Sea of a touchstone which would turn everything you hold into gold. The only way to tell if you had one was by its warmth. Well, there was a man who became so obsessed with finding a touchstone that he sold everything he had and spent the rest of his life searching the shores of the Black Sea, picking up stones, feeling them cold in his hand, and then tossing them into the sea. After years of doing this he picked up a stone one day, which suddenly turned warm. But before he realised what he was doing, he threw it away, just as he had thousands of others.
The message in that legend is not to become so dulled by the routines of life that when a treasure reveals itself to you, you throw it away without thinking. It’s what many people do with the greatest treasure of all – faith in God.

Posted in Foolishness, Searching, Thoughtlessness, Touchstone, Treasure | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sharper than a sword

Posted on May 23, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

The London Missionary Society recorded the story of one of its missionaries, who got captured by a bandit in a forest in Sicily. The bandit was disgusted to discover the missionary’s only possession was a box of books; so he ordered the missionary to burn them. The missionary, however, asked if he could read a portion of each before burning it, and the bandit agreed. The first bit he read was the 23rd psalm, then the story of the Good Samaritan, then part of the Sermon on the Mount. At the end of each reading the bandit decided to keep that particular book because he liked he’d heard. The end result was that he took the lot.
Years later, that same missionary returned to Sicily and met that bandit again, only this time he was the minister of a church, transformed by what he read in those books, each of which, of course, was a Bible. Its message still has the power to transform

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Live like a llama

Posted on May 21, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Lexy Fowler, who owns a sheep property in Colorado, says she tried everything to stop coyotes killing her sheep without success – that is until she discovered llamas – those aggressive, funny-looking, afraid-of-nothing creatures from South America. “When llamas see something coming,” she said, “They put their heads up and walk straight toward it. That’s too aggressive for coyotes, so they keep away. Coyotes are opportunists, and llamas take that opportunity away.”
It sounds a bit like that old advice from the Bible about what to do when temptation stalks us. “Put on the whole armour of God,” it says. “Submit yourself to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.” As Benjamin Franklin rightly said, “It is easier to send that first desire packing than to satisfy all the ones that will follow it.”

Posted in Armour of God, Attitude, Bad Habits, Inspirational, Resisting the Devil, Self Discipline, Spiritual discernment, Temptation | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Indians are after me

Posted on May 21, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

A time management guru from the Harvard Business School observed that most of us spend too much time on the C priorities of life to the detriment of the A and B priorities. ‘The reason,’ he said, ‘is because they are much easier to accomplish and fool us into feeling we are doing something worthwhile.’ The secret of all successful lives is knowing what really matters and not being distracted by lesser things that make us feel good because we’re doing something.
It reminds me of an old country recipe for rabbit stew that starts by saying: “First catch the rabbit.” We put the things that should be in first place in their proper order. Otherwise we could end up like that old prospector from the American West, whose inscription said: “I lost my gun. I lost my horse. I am out of food. The Indians are after me. But I’ve got all the gold I can carry!”

Posted in Bad Habits, Life's journey, Living Life, Love of the easy way, Priorities, Wisdom | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Truth motivated by love

Posted on May 21, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Nikita Khrushchev often denounced the atrocities of his predecessor, Josef Stalin, and on one occasion, when doing so, he was interrupted by a heckler who called out; “You were there. Why didn’t you stop him?” Khrushchev stopped speaking, then roared out, “Who said that?” Not a soul answered. An agonizing silence followed as nobody dared move a muscle. Then Khrushchev replied quietly, “Now you know why.”
Fear has a way of paralyzing us. However, the Bible says we should be prepared to confront evil openly. It calls us to “speak the truth in love.” The key elements in this are truth and love. We shouldn’t back off from confronting things that are wrong, but we should always do so without malice – truth motivated by love.“There is no fear in love,” says the Bible. “For perfect love casts out fear.”

Posted in Apathy, Courage, Fear, Justice, love, Terror, Truth | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Keeping an open mind

Posted on May 21, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Dr. Paul Ruskin once spoke to his medical students about a patient who couldn’t speak or understand what was said to her. She would babble incoherently for hours on end. She showed complete disregard for her physical appearance. She had to be fed, bathed, and clothed by others. Because she had no teeth, her food had to be pureed. She drooled incessantly and often would wake in the middle of the night screaming. He then asked for volunteers to take care of this person. When no-one responded he said: ‘I’m surprised and saddened.’ He then showed them a photo of his baby daughter.
He did it to remind them that in relationships the key to unlocking life’s possibilities is an open mind. It’s not always what you think you are about to see that’s important. It’s the way you are prepared to look at it

Posted in Attitude, relationships, Seeing the possibilities, Spiritual Insight, Sympathy and Support, Wisdom | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Dime’s Worth of Life

Posted on May 21, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

A wise old man, reflecting on a simple purchase of seeds for his garden, wrote this:
I paid a dime for a package of seeds
And the man tossed them out with a flip.
“We’ve got ’em assorted for every man’s needs”
He said with a smile on his lip.
“Pansies and poppies and asters and peas.
Ten cents a packet, and pick as you please.”

Now seeds are just dimes to that man in the store,
And the dimes are the things that he needs.
And I’ve been there to buy them in seasons before,
But thought of them merely as seeds.
But it flashed through my mind as I took them this time
That I’d purchased a miracle just for a dime.

You’ve a dime’s worth of power no man can create.
You’ve a dime’s worth of life in your hand.
You’ve a dime’s worth of mystery, wonder and fate,
Which the wisest cannot understand.
In this bright little packet, now isn’t it odd?
You’ve a dime’s worth of something known only to God.’

Posted in Awareness, creation, God, Life, Miracles, Spiritual discernment, Wonder | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Eternity in our hearts

Posted on May 10, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Anne Rice, whose bestsellers including The Vampire Chronicles have sold over one hundred million copies, is one of the most widely read authors in the world. After spending most of her adult life a self-described atheist, a few years ago she converted to Christianity and now focuses her writings on spiritual themes. In describing her journey she said, “We like to believe we turn to God because of an accident or the loss of a loved one, but in my case it was simply the culmination of searching. I wrestled with a lot of theological questions, and then one afternoon, I thought, I love you — I want to come back to you.” And so she did.
The Bible says that “God has placed eternity in our hearts” and that’s why we can never feel at home until we come home to Him. She felt it. Maybe you do too.

Posted in Atheism, Conversion, Eternity, Faith, God, inner peace, Knowing God, Life's journey, Spiritual discernment | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment