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Showing posts from November, 2020

Brotherly Love (Day 1 from Cleansing Thoughts)

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   IT’S THE EVEV OF MY grandson’s first birthday, and as I look down into his sleeping face, I recall with great detail the evening he was born. Maybe it was because he was my first grandchild or perhaps it was the event that surrounded his birth that I remember so well.    All the expectant grandparents were waiting with great anticipation for the announcement to be made that the baby had arrived. I smiled as I thought of the single tear I had seen falling from the corner of my daughter-in-law’s eyes as the pain intensified, yet she never uttered a word. The strength  and the determination she showed caused such a warm feeling of pride to rise up within me. I thought to myself, “It wouldn’t be long now.” As we waited, thoughts flooded my mind if what this newest arrival would bring into our lives. Suddenly, the door was opened, and we were told it was a boy and the new family was doing fine. I remember vividly the first time I saw this precious little face as his mother held him in he

In the Garden of My Heart (Day 3 from Cleaning Thoughts)

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 When Jesse spoke to the people, He often used parables or stories to creat visual pictures in the mind of the listeners. This morning, the parable of the sower became real to me. Until now, I had been like the one who receives the seed that was sown among the thorns. Jesus explained it this way: “Now he who receives seed sown amount thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty”(Matthew 13:22-23, NJKV).   I had lost sight of the real message of this parable and had allowed the adversary to sow his seeds in the garden of my heart. The time I had spent being upset with my family should have been used to share with them how God had given the increase.    As I sat there, tears flooding my eyes, I repented for what I had done and asked t