Category: Faith

RESPECT! Here is the dictionary definition: "a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements." After reading the definition, I concluded that technically respect requires you to at least know something about the other person, whereas courtesy and manners can be demonstrated to complete strangers. We seek respect from others, which usually includes a relationship with them. WHY do we long to be respected? Personally, I desire to be respected because it affirms that others deeply care and admire who I am and what I stand for, who God has molded me to be.At the park today, a neighbor of ours related a story of a few twelve year old boys who took his daughter's backpack and threw it over the fence into the woods,…

Friendships come and friendships go.Have you ever met someone that you thought you could stay friends with forever, only to find out it all came crashing down perhaps when you least expected it? Maybe it was a best friend you had growing up, a parent who has deeply hurt you, the heartbreak of divorce, or a sibling you no longer keep in touch with. It's like a death of a person in a sense, the betrayal of a confidence. I have a lot of friends that I have lost, some seemingly unnecessarily. It stings to feel a rejection, and my first reaction can naturally be bitterness and anger. However, what I've found is praying for those who I feel have wronged me brings about a softness in my heart, a compassion…

Read below the following verses in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 from The Bible written by King Solomon, son of King David.Everything Is Meaningless1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”    says the Teacher.“Utterly meaningless!    Everything is meaningless.”3 What do people gain from all their labors    at which they toil under the sun?4 Generations come and generations go,    but the earth remains forever.5 The sun rises and the sun sets,    and hurries back to where it rises.6 The wind blows to the south    and turns to the north;round and round it goes,    ever returning on its course.7 All streams flow into the sea,    yet the sea is never full.To the place the streams come from,    there they return again.8 All things are wearisome,    more than one can say.The eye never has enough of seeing,    nor the ear its fill of hearing.9 What has been will be again,    what…

Mother's Day can be filled with such joy and sorrow. Moms who have passed on and their children left to remember them, others who long to be a mom and are struggling to or maybe never will be. Of course still others will relish in spending some special time with their mom, and those moms-to-be or young mothers who are beginning to experience the self-sacrifice required in motherhood themselves.Mom. How many times have you said that word in your lifetime? Countless. Perhaps now you are the one hearing it 24/7 from your little ones! A mother can be a priceless instrument in God's hand for the using if she is so willing. Take time to reflect on that in your own life, and remember and speak about the grandmas and…