war is a mirror
revealing who we are
and what we will become
if we ignore hatred’s spark
and allow it to grow
to a raging flame
we pray
“deliver us from evil”
as if evil
were outside of ourselves
untouched by our minds
distant from our hearts
we pray
“deliver us from evil”
but the honest will pray
“deliver us from ourselves”
poetry by j.e. fernandez
There is an allure to the temporary: it comes cloaked in light only to steal our lives. God, help us…that we do not fall victim.
Source: Buried Alive
Photo Credit: Crumbling Mansion
Lord, help me to value time with my children. Sometimes I focus so much on how things are supposed to be that I forget the purpose behind it all. Remind me how few in number these days will be. Soon enough my children will be grown. Let me enjoy these fleeting yet precious moments while I can.
Source: I Finally Get the Concept
Photo Credit: Free stock photo of sunset, people, girl www.pexels.com
It seems the flags have been flying half-mast more often than not these days. Sometimes we drive by, and we know. “Oh, it’s for that tragedy in such-and-such a city,” or, “It’s for the terror attack in that other town.” Other times, we don’t. “What now?” we ask.
I heard on the radio that our president has called for flags to be at half-mast on sixty-seven occasions since he took office. And how many more times will that call go forth as we tread through the coming years in our sin-plagued land?
Half-mast “refers to a flag flying beneath its summit on a pole” as a symbol of “respect, mourning, or distress.” Do we realize the degree of distress our country is in when we so consistently see flags flying half-mast? Or do we walk on, somber for a moment, soon forgetting the distress call? Has it become so commonplace that we fail to remember the symbolism?
As the flags fly beneath their summit, maybe our hearts need to be half-mast as well. Respecting, mourning, remembering. Understanding of the times.
What tragedy will it take to bring us to our knees? When will we humble ourselves and turn from our selfish ways? When will we turn to the one who created us for so much more than what we’ve settled for? When will we admit that we need help? When will we pray?
And when will we stop going on, life as usual, when we all know…it’s NOT?
Every time we see flags at half-mast, it serves as a wake-up call. We are not invincible. We are not all-sufficient. We need a savior.
Photo Credit: Half-mast – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sometimes I feel invisible. I call my children multiple times with no response unless it involves cookies or ice cream. One time I asked my son why he wasn’t listening, and he told me, “Wait a minute Mommy. I can’t hear you. Let me get these fruit snacks out of my ears.”
Having children has made me more aware of how selective our hearing can be. Kids tend to hear what they want to hear, when they want to hear it. They tune in to those things that most interest them while lowering the volume on what they don’t want to hear.
It can be like that in our relationship with God. In a previous blog post I talked about what I termed “misunderhearing”. But sometimes we take it a step further and just don’t listen at all.
Maybe our ears are plugged up with fruit snacks, just like my son’s. We jam our ears with feel-good sweet-talk rather than the nourishing truth of God’s word. The media so consumes our senses that we can’t hear what our loving Creator really wants to say to us.
The Bible says, “A time will come when people will not listen to accurate teachings. Instead, they will follow their own desires and surround themselves with teachers who tell them what they want to hear.” How true of our day and age. We live for social media likes and follows, wanting to hear what people have to say about us while completely unconcerned with what God has to say.
As a wise man so aptly stated, “You can believe in whatsoever you like, but the truth remains the truth, no matter how sweet the lie may taste” (M.B. Johnson). Do we realize what we’re missing while our ears remain plugged up with lies? Our joy is diminished, our senses dulled, when we neglect the life-giving word of God in favor of saccharine junk food.
Photo Credit: Ear plugs | Flickr – Photo Sharing!
God, slow us down. Help us to listen to your still small voice, to hear what you are saying above the clamor of this world. Show yourself for who you truly are, not for what we’ve tried to make you to be. And as we rightly hear you, bring healing to our relationships with you and with others, as only you can.
Source: Misunderhearing
Photo Credit: Sunrise, People – Free images on Pixabay
True faith believes God has our best interests in mind, whether or not his answers align with our desires.
Source: The Most Difficult Prayer
Photo Credit: Driftwood – Free photos on Pixabay
This Life & Beyond 
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