The Plane Tree

TWO TRAVELERS, worn out by the heat of the summer’s sun,

laid themselves down at noon under the wide spreading

branches of a Plane-Tree. As they rested under its shade,

one of the Travelers said to the other, “What a singularly

useless tree is the Plane! It bears no fruit, and is not

of the least service to man.”

The Plane-Tree, interrupting him, said, “You ungrateful

fellows! Do you, while receiving benefits from me and

resting under my shade, dare to describe me as useless,

and unprofitable?”

SOME MEN UNDERRATE THEIR BEST BLESSINGS!

MORAL :

DO NOT TAKE YOUR PARENTS FOR GRANTED

BLESSINGS FROM GOD WILL NOT BE ADDED

A FOOL ALWAYS COMPLAIN AND LAMENT

A WISE MAN IS MOSTLY THANKFUL AND CONTENT

GOD’S INVISIBLE BREATH

♥

♥

The man whispered,

“God, speak to me.”

And a meadowlark sang.
But the man did not hear.

God’s Mighty yet Gentle Calling

So the man yelled,

“God, speak to me!”

And the thunder rolled across the sky.
But the man did not listen.

thunder rolled across the sky

The man looked around and said,

“God, let me see you.”

And a star shone brightly.
But the man did not notice.

God’s Light in the Dark .. A Sign He’s always there

And the man shouted,

“God, show me a miracle!”

And a life was born.
But the man did not know.

a new life was born

So, the man cried out in despair.

“Touch me God, and let me know that you are here!”

Whereupon God reached down and touched the man.
But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on.

God’s Gentle Touch; Unheeded by Man

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MORAL:

Don’t miss out on a blessing because

it isn’t packaged the way you expect.

*An Old Hindu Poem*

Dirty Oven

”If we (freely) admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just

(true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins (dismiss our lawlessness)

and (continuously) cleanse us from all unrighteousness (everything not in conformity to

His will in purpose, thought, and action)”

(1 John 1:9)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our

sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – NWT

Ω

Cleaning the oven is not my favorite thing to do. In fact, it slides down to bottom of my

“to do” list several times before I actually make it a priority. I know I am not the only

person who feels this way. The owner of the house we moved into obviously disliked

cleaning ovens even more than I do. It was very dirty and hadn’t been cleaned for a

long time. I put it through the self-clean cycle then used SOS pads to clean the build

up around the edges. But the build up on the front bottom part of the oven and door

were so caked on that I had to take a screwdriver to scratch it off.

let not our hearts be like a dirty oven with crusts of ungodly habits

ζ

Finally it was clean.

As I was scrubbing the oven, I compared the dirty oven with our hearts. People can’t

see inside our ovens, or our hearts, but God can and it can be pretty dirty. I remember

so vividly the time when I asked Jesus into my life at the age of 12. I asked Him to

forgive my sins. He cleansed me and I felt so clean. At the age of 30, I learned about

spiritual breathing (confessing our sins and appropriating the Holy Spirit). I learned

I could be “clean” all the time – moment by moment.

However, sometimes we become so busy that we don’t spend time daily with the

Lord and His Word. We become sloppy and accumulate ungodly habits that are like

the caked on grease at the bottom of my oven. You have to work at getting rid of those.

Worry, ungratefulness, critical attitudes, etc. We need to confess them immediately

and begin thanking the Lord for all His blessings, start thinking “good, pure thought”

and focus our thoughts on God and His sufficiency.

If we spend quiet time with the Lord and His Word, He will point them out to us.

Many, many times a day, we have to do this to change our ungodly habits.

Purify our hearts Daily

Don’t let your oven (heart) get dirty – keep it clean.

What are your “caked on” habits?

Admit your sins and He will cleanse you.

*** Katherine Kehler ***

Free Will and Honesty

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Ω

α

Morality may consist solely in the courage of making a choice and choices

made are acted upon the *free will* given by God above. Free will means God

does not force our conscience not our actions on any decision that we make.

Free will allows one to choose between being righteous and doing what is right

or being wicked and doing what is evil in the eyes of Almighty Jehovah God.

In life, there’s always two choices or two roads, righteous or evil which leads

to good or bad ramifications. This is the freedom of free will.

Two Roads

Choosing the one that is easy and smooth but wicked, no back breaking

effort to attain whatever your heart desires; a shortcut to everything

which is much much easier than virtue itself, will only bring one reward

and that is, the easy way, with no substance or anything of glory to shout

about and maybe even have to do time behind bars chained with irons of

sorrow and a lifetime full of regrets.

Two Choices

The other of good but harder road with it’s winding twist, bends and turns

will inevitably reward with the right results because this path taken is walked

with righteousness and peace with right thoughts and actions and the blessings

it brings, will be satisfying, self-gratifying and worthy of the Lord God Almighty.

You’ll have to face the consequences of your own acts and if your actions are

right and pure in God’s eyes and also that in your fellow man’s eyes, you’ll reap

good consequences; if not, you’ll suffer and sorrow terribly for it. Though, for

some, punishment may not be immediate but it follows on in your life and in

the lives of your son/sons and later generations to come. They’ll have to pay

the penalty for your sins.

It’s in the wise sayings of King Solomon, “You’ll reap what you sow.”

It’s the unchangeable laws of nature.

Sooner or later everyone sits down to their own banquet of consequences.

In other words, you can choose what you want to do, but you can’t choose

the consequences for your choices! So, act wisely and carefully, because

you are ultimately accountable to Jehovah God and also to Jesus Christ

in the end. You will reap what you sow into your life, whether you sow bad

and evil seeds or good and fruitful seeds. To each his or her own.

Henceforth, good trees will bear fruitful productive fruits while bad trees

yield rotten bad fruits; and so shall a man be defined by what flows out

from his heart through his words and thoughts.

∞

To surmise this in brevity :

It’s the nature of life, you can never lose anything that really belongs

to you, because it’s what God has accounted and measured out to you

according to the seeds you sow; and you cannot keep whatever that

which belongs rightfully to someone else.

∞

© Keziah – January 7 2009

Be Thankful

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Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don’t know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you’re tired and weary,
because it means you’ve made a difference.

It’s easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who
are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.

∞

ζ

∞

*Author Unknown*