When we finally humble ourselves and ask for the help we’ve needed all along, things start to change.
Photo Credit: Free photo: Life Buoy, Sea, Sos, Ocean, Help – Free Image on …
Change
Everything in its Season
I’ve never asked the sun to shine, but still it does
I’ve never asked for rainy skies, yet still they come
I’ve never asked the wind to blow
I’ve never asked for winter snow
I’ve never asked for evening stars but still, they are
I’ve never asked for spring’s relief, yet seasons turn
I’ve never asked for summer heat, and still it burns
I’ve never asked for falling leaves
I’ve never asked for forest trees
I’ve never asked for flowers to grow, but Lord—You know
Everything comes in its season
Governed by power unseen
Change comes to our lives for a reason
Revealed only in eternity
Our lives are an intricate tapestry
Woven with perfect design
Every joy, every pain writes our destiny
Born with love from the dawn of time
You know every need, and You meet it
Before we can whisper a prayer
You’re working although we can’t see it
Your purpose will one day be clear
(Originally posted by Jen on the Tears of Joy Blog)
Before the Snow Melts
It’s fascinating to observe how different the perspective of a child is from that of an adult. Take snow, for instance. For a child, it means endless hours of fun. For an adult, it means endless hours of shoveling.
When it snowed Thanksgiving weekend, my kids begged my husband and me to take them sledding. Exhausted from the busy school year and ready to relax for at least one day of break, I suggested some lower-key, indoor activities. “It’s not even winter yet,” I reasoned. “We have a few months of snow ahead of us. Plenty of time for sledding.”
I didn’t expect it would only snow a few times after, and hardly enough for sledding. The one time we had what seemed to be a sufficient amount, I was the one telling my kids we had to get outside “before the snow melts”. We got to the hill and they made it down only a few times before they were sledding on grass and caked in dirt.
As I look through our winter pictures spanning the past few years, I see how time is like the snow—so quickly melting away, the kids growing with each passing year. It won’t be long before they’ve outgrown sledding and are complaining about shoveling. Makes me want to hold all the more tightly to these innocent years.
It’s easy to take things for granted—like snow in the wintertime. Out here, it’s as expected as the turning of the calendar from December to January, to February. Expected, but not guaranteed. Just like the precious time we have with our children. The more I realize how quickly the snow melts away, the more I want to treasure each moment before it, too, melts away.
A New Season
Today is the day of salvation, this moment is the moment for renewal and change. We don’t have to wait another second, another minute…another year. This is the time for new beginnings—a new season, a new day.
Photo Credit: A brilliant sunrise over a very cold, snow covered Crystal… | Flickr
Your Legacy
To choose love over hatred requires change. It means letting go of our hurt and fear in favor of the higher calling. Generations to come will reap the harvest of our choices, for good or for evil. Hate breeds hate; love breeds love. Love, though met with hatred, will ultimately prevail. What will your legacy be?
Source: Two Fires
Two Fires
Fire can breed life or destruction. It depends on the source. If it’s come from the intentional igniting of a spark, it can bring warmth and healing. Yet if it roars from the roots of careless ignorance, it’s destined to devour all in its path.
There are two fires raging in our streets. One is a fire of hatred—born in the crucibles of suffering only to birth relentless pain and endless ruin. The other is of love. It rises in the hearts of those who refuse to be overcome by the darkness of evil, bearing power to overcome the destructive force of hatred.
Hatred will only perpetuate hatred. As a seed begets its corresponding fruit, so hatred results in destruction and death. The seeds of love bring forth healing and life.
We have a choice. We can leave a legacy of hate, or a legacy of love. Only one is a worthy legacy.
To choose love over hatred requires change. It means letting go of our hurt and fear in favor of the higher calling. Generations to come will reap the harvest of our choices, for good or for evil. Hate breeds hate; love breeds love. Love, though met with hatred, will ultimately prevail. What will your legacy be?
“Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy…For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life…” (Francis of Assisi)
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love…we love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:8, 19)
Photo Credit: Free photo: Wildfire, Fire, Flames, Hot – Free Image on Pixabay …
Haunted No More
i enter through the iron gates
holding in my hands
the remnants of my former life
slowly descending
into the valley of shadows
until surrounded by an endless sea of death
my way is haunted
by a never-ending maze of gravestones
but only one bears my name
taking the shovel in my weary hands
i dig deep
burying all that must be left behind
surrendering my past
once and for all,
i bid farewell to the old me
and i do not shed a tear
this will be
my final goodbye
a funeral for myself
i leave my grave clothes behind
and put on
the garments of life
i am a new creation
dead to what used to be,
finally letting go…
alive at last
poetry by j.e. fernandez
photo credit: The Ghoul-Gate | One grave in every graveyard | Flickr
This Life & Beyond 
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