Earth Hour 2009

Just a quick reminder to my fellow earthlings to participate in the Earth Hour tonight. Please turn off your lights from 8:30-9:30pm. It only takes 60minutes to show the world that you also care for this planet we live in.

My 'must have' list for 2009 (update1)

OiS has a new look! Take a look for yourself!

1. personalized theme for OiS (done on Mar12, thanks to Carlota)

2. LCD/flat screen PC monitor to replace the one I’m using which is having its near death experience (this was on last year’s list but I crossed it out because I can still manage to work with it, but it has to go this year because it’s not doing good things anymore to my eyes)

3. new camera/camcorder (my husband and I decided that we buy this next year, in time for Jeff’s graduation)

4. (to be continued)

Happy 1st Birthday, Only in Silence!!!!!

My primary blog, Only in Silence, turns one year old today. And I thank all the beautiful earthlings who became part of it. I am so happy meeting all of you.

My 'must have' list for 2009

I do this yearly, so here’s the list for this year.

1. personalized theme for OiS

2. LCD/flat screen PC monitor to replace the one I’m using which is having its near death experience (this was on last year’s list but I crossed it out because I can still manage to work with it, but it has to go this year because it’s not doing good things anymore to my eyes)

3. new camera

4. (to be continued)

Happy Holidays!

The Other Side of Thank You

(from Our Daily Bread 208 diary)

The Other Side of Thank You

(Love) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. – 1Corinthians13:5

A baby gift came to a young couple who were new parents. They were grateful for the present, so the mom picked up a thank-you card, wrote a nice note and got it ready to send.

Somehow it got buried in an avalanche of paperwork and was never mailed – and the thank-you was forgotten. The gift givers waited, but no acknowledgment came.

A rift developed as one family thought the thank-you had been given, while the other thought the lack of a thank-you was a snub. This inadvertent failure to send a card left the gift giver feeling slighted, unappreciated and neglected.

Among the most important words we can speak are the two words, ‘Thank you’. And while it is vital to be grateful, there’s another side of thank you. If we bestow a gift on another, we should do so out of a motive that doesn’t expect anything, even a thank you, in return. True love gives with no expectations.

Love, as described in 1Corinthians13:4, ‘suffers long and is kind’ and is never self-seeking. Love keeps no record of wrongs – even if someone forgets to thank us for a kindness. The other side of thank you is a pure heart that reflects God’s perfect love for us. – Dave Branon

I want the love that always sweetly bears, Whate’er my Father’s hand may choose to send;

I want the love that patiently endures, The wrongs that come from enemy or friend. – Anon.

True love has no strings attached.

(Also read: 1Corinthians13, Ezekiel16-17 and James3)

Growth Persuasion

(from our Daily Bread 2008 diary)

Growth Persuasion
No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but . . . . . it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. - Hebrews12:11

My Uncle Lester, who lives in Florida, was discouraged by the lack of fruit on his grapefruit tree. Someone told him he needed to whack the trunk of the tree a few times with a board.

Apparently, there is some truth to this unusual method of encouraging growth. One gardening expert says, 'At times, the flowering hormone in the tree seems to get stuck and no flowers appear. Carefully persuade the tree to flower by shocking it. Hit the trunk . . . . . several times, (which will cause) small bruises in the bark'. This advice may stimulate growth.

When trouble comes into our lives, we sometimes feel as if we've been hit broadside. We feel desperation and then we wonder, Why is this happening to me?

One possibility is that God is using a painful experience to get our attention. In Psalm119:71, David wrote, 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes'. And Hebrews12:11 says that chastening 'yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness'.

Is God using pain in your life to lovingly persuade you to change? The season of trouble may not be easy, but if we let ourselves be trained by it, new growth will result as we become more like His Son (Phil.3:10). - Cindy Hess Kasper

We shrink from the purging and pruning, Forgetting the Gardener knows;
The deeper the cutting and paring, The richer the cluster that grows. - Anon.

Affliction for God's people can be the pruning knife to prepare us for greater fruitfulness.

(Also read Hebrews12:7-11, Jeremiah6-8 and 1Timothy5)