The Power of an Encouraging Word

Posted on April 9, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Fifteen year old Douglas Maurer went into depression when he was diagnosed with leukemia and learned he was to have three years of chemotherapy that would send him bald and bloated. To cheer him up his aunt ordered some flowers; and they were beautiful. But it was the card hidden inside that really did the trick. It said: “Douglas – I’m the florist who took your order. I had leukemia when I was seven. I’m twenty two now. Good Luck. My heart goes out to you. Sincerely, Laura Bradley.”
Though surrounded by millions of dollars worth of medical equipment and a highly skilled medical team, it was a girl from the flower shop who, by taking the time to care and do what her heart told her to do, gave Douglas hope and the will to carry on. We should never underestimate the power of an encouraging word.

Posted in Acts of Kindness, Anxiety, Generous spirit, Healing, Hope, hope and love, inner peace, Inspiration, Living Life, Power, Strength, supportive community, tribulation and trouble | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s in the bag?

Posted on March 26, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s an old legend about three men each carrying two sacks, one on their back and one on their front.. When asked what was in the sacks, the first said, “On my back are all the good things that have happened to me, and in the front sack I keep the bad, where I can see them.” The second man said “In the front sack are the good things I’ve received, and in the back are the bad things. They slow me down, but for some reason I can’t drop them.” The third man said, “The sack in front is where I keep all my blessings. It’s weight isn’t a problem because the sack acts like sails on a ship. The one on my back is where I put the bad things. But it’s empty because I cut a hole in the bottom. I’m not going to carry weight I don’t need to.”
Contented people are those who know what to keep in their sacks and what to drop. The question is: what are you carrying in yours?

Posted in Appreciation, Attitude, Bitterness, Blessings, Contentment, Encouragement, Futility, Hope, Inspiration, Life's journey, Living Life, Making the most of what you've got, Seeing the possibilities, Spiritual blindness, Spiritual discernment, thankfulness, Troubles, Trust in God, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Contradictions that are true

Posted on March 26, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Movie mogul Sam Goldwyn used to mangle the English language so badly that his mixed metaphors came to be known as Goldwynisms. Some of his classics are: ‘A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on,’ ‘Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is named William;’ ‘Don’t talk to me while I’m interrupting;’ and ‘I may not always be right, but I’m never wrong.’
It reminds me of that seeming contradiction Jesus made when he said, ‘If you want to find your life, you have to lose it.’ What he was saying was, the more we concentrate on our own happiness the less we find it. But the more we concentrate on making others happy, the more we do find it.
As someone said, ‘Happiness is like a butterfly. Pursue it and it will elude you. But turn to other things and you’ll find it softly sitting on your shoulder.’

Posted in Contradictions, Discernment, Faith, Happiness, Inspirational, Jesus, Life's journey, Living Life, Seeing the possibilities, Spiritual discernment, Spiritual Insight, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

No ‘Ifs’ about it.

Posted on March 26, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

The great pianist Artur Rubinstein said: “As long as we have what we have inside, the capacity to love, to work, to hear music, to see a flower… nothing can stop us from being happy…but we must get rid of the ifs . Many people say, ‘I would be happy if I had a certain job, or if I were better looking, or if I married someone else.’ There isn’t any such thing. You must live your life without the ifs.”
Those wise words remind me of Jesus’ story about the rich man who entrusted various amounts of money to three servants. The first two doubled what they’d been given and were equally commended, while the third, resentful that he’d received less than the others, buried his and was condemned. The message is that when the final accounting comes, the only ‘if’ that will count will be if we’ve used what we’ve been given.

Posted in angry with God, Artur Rubinstein, Attitude, Contentment, Discernment, If, Life's journey, Living Life, Making the most of what you've got, Regret, Seeing the possibilities, Spiritual Insight, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Pain – ‘God’s Megaphone’

Posted on March 26, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s nothing that challenges faith in a loving God more than the problem of pain. C.S. Lewis said that of all the things that come to us in life, pain is the one thing guaranteed to get our attention. Joys and pleasures come and go without causing any deep thought. But pain has a way of focusing our minds on what is really important. He called it ‘God’s megaphone.’
Commenting on this, Professor Bruce Waltke described how he once rescued a bird from a cat. Even though its wing was broken, it struggled madly to escape. But the next day he took his young daughter to hospital to get a needle. She was afraid too, but didn’t struggle. She just held him tightly round the neck. He said, ‘It made me realise that pain ought to make us react more like a sick child holding onto a loving father, than a frightened bird trying to escape.

Posted in angry with God, Discernment, Encouragement, Faith, God, Grace, Hope, Life's journey, Living Life, Pain, pilgrimage, Religion, Spiritual Insight, Trials and testings, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Creating things that devour us

Posted on March 26, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s an ancient legend from India about four princes who went off to develop special powers and then met to reveal what they had learned. The first said, “I have learned how to take a creature’s bone and create flesh on it.” The second said, “I know how to grow that creature’s skin and hair on its bones.” The third said, “I am able to create its limbs;” and the fourth said, “I know how to give it life.” So the brothers went into the jungle and they found the bone of a lion. Each one did his bit and the result was a ferocious beast that jumped on his creators and ate them.
We too have the capacity to create what can devour us. Goals and dreams can consume us; possessions and property can obsess and destroy us. That’s why Jesus said we should make finding God’s Kingdom our priority, and all the other good things will follow.

Posted in Foolishness, Life's journey, Self Deception, Self Destruction, Spiritual blindness, Spiritual Darkness | Tagged , | 3 Comments

When your morning seems to be going bad

Posted on March 24, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Following the September Eleven tragedy, a group of workers who should have been in the Twin Towers, but weren’t, met together to share their stories. One was late for work because his son started kindergarten. Another was late because her alarm clock didn’t go off and a third got stuck in a traffic jam. One man missed his bus and another couldn’t get his car to start. There was a woman who’d spilled food on her clothes and had to go home to change, and a man who got a blister and stopped to buy a band aid.
The thing they all had in common was that they had been angry and frustrated by the delays in getting to work; delays that meant they are alive today. If there’s a lesson in these stories, it’s whenever your morning seems to be going wrong, don’t get mad. Make yourself look for the possibilities in it.

Posted in angry with God, Attitude, God, Inspiration, Life's journey, Living Life, Making the most of what you've got, Seeing the possibilities, Spiritual Insight, Spirituality, Terror, Terrorists, Trials and testings, Trust in God, Uncertainty of Life, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Dollar isn’t God

Posted on March 24, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

On the anniversary of nine/eleven, the boys choir of Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London visited the trading floor of the British arm of Cantor Fitzgerald, a stock broking company whose six hundred and fifty eight American employees all perished in that holocaust. The choir went there to sing for peace, but the head trader announced that the firm needed to keep on making money, so all staff were to keep on working. But as the boys began to sing, the noise of billions of dollars of transactions suddenly ceased and all over that vast dealing floor, hard-nosed traders held their telephones to the choir so that colleagues around the world could hear the beauty of the song.
It’s good to know there are days when even stock brokers realise the dollar isn’t God. It’s also something we need to constantly remind ourselves.

Posted in Awareness, Discernment, God, inner peace, Inspirational, Law of Jungle, Money, Remembrance, Self Deception, Spiritual blindness, Spiritual Insight, Terror, Terrorists, Trust in God, Uncertainty of Life, War, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

When the Path is a Person

Posted on March 24, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

I remember a missionary telling how he got lost in the African bush. Fortunately some villagers found him and sent one of their young men to guide him to where he was supposed to be. The two of them set out and walked for hours, hacking their way through dense bush. The missionary began to worry and said, “Are you sure this is the way? Where is the path?” His native guide said. “Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path.”
Jesus once said something very similar. When asked how we can find the way to God, Jesus replied, “I am the way.” Our one sure path through the wilderness of life is Jesus himself – not just his teachings, but also the reality of his presence within us that shows us the way we are to take – the still, small voice within that says to those who listen, “This is the way, walk in it.”

Posted in direction, Faith, God, Guidance, Jesus, Journey, Life's journey, Living Life, pilgrimage, Seeing Jesus, Spiritual discernment, Spirituality, Trust in God, Uncertainty of Life | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Virus Called Peace

Posted on March 24, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

I once received an email warning me of the spread of a virus called “Inner Peace.” It told me to be alert for symptoms that could pose a serious threat to my usual stable condition of conflict. These symptoms include: A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences; an unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment; a loss of interest in judging other people; a loss of interest in conflict; a loss of ability to worry; frequent, contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature; frequent attacks of smiling; an increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen; an increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.
Inner Peace –It’s a virus people catch by getting close to Jesus.

Posted in Acts of Kindness, Appreciation, Attitude, Awareness, Compassion, Contentment, Faith, Forgiveness, Generous spirit, Grace, Happiness, Healing, hope and love, inner peace, Inspirational, Jesus, Joy, Knowing God, love, Mercy, Personal Growth, Seeing Jesus, Spirituality, thankfulness, Transformation, Unselfishness | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment