I would post this on my xanga but the server is too busy..
UnFolding the Rosebud
It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God's design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.
The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
God opens this flower so sweetly,
In my hands it will fade and die.
If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God's design,
Then how can I think I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?
So I'll trust in Him for His leading
Each moment of every day.
I will look to him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.
The pathway that lies before me,
Only my Heavenly Father knows.
I'll trust Him to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose.
- Helen Steiner Rice
I WONDER...
I wonder what I would have done,
Had I been there in that crowd?
Would I have spoken up for Him,
In a voice clear and loud?
Would I have walked beside Him,
Down that dirty, rock-strewn road?
Would I have tried to steady Him,
As He stumbled with His load?
Would I have let Him lean against me?
Would I have gladly borne his weight?
Could I have helped in anyway,
To ease His great heartache?
Could I have said the proper words,
To comfort His aloneness,
To show I shared His sorrow,
To attend to His forlornness?
I wonder if I'd been there,
Would I have stroked His tear-stained cheek,
And kissed His bloodied hands,
And washed his bloodstained feet?
Would I have rubbed His aching shoulders,
Put soothing lotion on His back.
Tended to His open wounds,
And supplied the water that He lacked?
I know I was not good enough,
To volunteer to take His place.
But could I have helped Him bear that cross,
And kept the sweat from His dear face?
Would I have put my arms around His mother,
And hugged her to my breast?
Could I have shielded her from viewing,
Her precious Son's tormented death?
Could I have helped prepare His body,
And have bathed Him with perfume?
I wonder if I'd been there,
Would I have waited by His tomb?
No doubt that Easter Morning,
I would have shouted, "HE IS RISEN!"
And I know I would have thanked my God,
For that most joyous of occasions.
I'm so sorry that He suffered,
And I am sad it was that way.
But I know it was God's plan for man,
And because of it, we're saved.
The only thing I could have done,
I suppose, had I been there.
Would have been to state my love for Him,
And tell Him that I cared.
- Virginia (Ginny) Ellis Copyright 2000
Just Push
A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might.
Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the Adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man's weary mind: "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it." Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure, these thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.
"Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough." And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. "Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"
The Lord responded compassionately, "My child, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinew and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock."
At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him. By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves the mountains.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes... Romans 1:16
When everything seems to go wrong, just P.U.S.H.!
When the job gets you down, just P.U.S.H.!
When people don't react the way
you think they should, just P.U.S.H.!
When your money is low and the bills are due, just P.U.S.H.!
When people just don't understand you, just P.U.S.H.!
P.U.S.H = Pray Until Something Happens
have an awesome day everybody