PRAYING HANDS

There are hands that help and comfort,
Hands that plan and teach,
Hands that rest and hands that strive
For a goal just out of reach,
Hands that grasp and hands that give,
Hands that work and play,
Friendly hands and loving hands
That soothes life's cares away.
But praying hands are dearest
In the sight of God above
For in their sweet and earnest clasp
Are reverence and love.
No hands can do an unkind act
Nor cause another care
Nor sin against Our Father's love
When they are clasped in prayer.
Author Unknown

The Father is a merciful God, who always gives us comfort. He comforts us when we are in trouble, so that we can share that same comfort with others in trouble.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.
John 13:15

Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us.
Thomas Browne

For the Lord will be your confidence
Proverbs 3:26

Every man’s life is a plan of God.
Horace Bushnell

Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:20

God asks no man whether he will accept life. That is not the choice. You must take it. The only choice is how.
Henry Ward Beecher

Every man has a train of thought on which he rides when he is alone. The dignity and nobility of his life, as well as his happiness, depend upon the direction in which that train is going, the baggage it carries, and the scenery through which it travels.
Joseph Fort Newton

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians 5:6

Dear God, fill me with Your boundless love. Open my eyes so that I may see where my help is needed. As I welcome a new day with you, direct the path you would like me to follow. Help me to be ready for the challenges you have for me today. Take away my struggles. Carry my yoke and place me with those you want me to meet. Help me to take advantage of each opportunity I have to offer someone a helping hand, a kind word, a listening ear, a pat on the back, hope. Lead me through the tasks you have set before me. Fill me with Your boundless love, so that I may pass it on. Let me feel Your presence and guidance. As I extend my hand, let me feel Your reassuring grasp and abundant love. Help me to become the most I can for You. Amen

Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2

We never live so intensely as when we love strongly. We never realize ourselves so vividly as when we are in the full glow of love for others.
Walter Rauschenbusch

Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.
Washington Irving

The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it in turn will look sourly at you; laugh at it, and with it, and it is a jolly, kind companion.
William Makepeace Thackeray

Drop a pebble in the water, And its ripples reach out far; And the sunbeams dancing on them May reflect them to a star.
Give a smile to someone passing, Thereby making his morning glad; It may greet you in the evening When your own heart may be sad.
Do a deed of simple kindness; Though its end you may not see, It may reach, like widening ripples, Down a long eternity.
Joseph Norris

Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
George Bernard Shaw

A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive, without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. No one is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it, and no one is so poor but that he can be made rich by it. A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in business, and is the countersign of friendship. It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and is nature’s best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give a smile. Give them one of yours, as no one needs a smile so much as he who has none to give.
Author Unknown

Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.
Amy Lowell

Life is like a library owned by an author. In it are a few books which he wrote himself, but most of them were written for him.
Harry Emerson Fosdick

Be a life long or short, its completeness depends on what it was lived for.
David Starr Jordan

I see your hand, Lord, in everything around me,
And in every aspect of my life, I see your will….
I see your plan, Lord, in all the years behind me.
And in the days and years to come, I’ll trust you still.
Jeremiah 29:11

Dear Lord, I thank you for being with me through all my yesterdays. I trust you to hold all my tomorrows in your hand. Amen

Life is a race. Don’t whimper if the track is rough and the goal is distant. One day you shall reach it.
Life is a voyage. Don’t complain if the storms batter the hull or the winds tatter to shreds the sails. One day you shall come to your haven.
Life is growth. Don’t find fault if the seed lies smothered and submerged in the dark earth before it blooms and blossoms. One day you shall have your harvest.
Life is a pilgrimage. Don’t falter on the road through self-pity because stones cut your feet and leave your blood on the trail. One day you will come to Immanuel’s land.
The God who through the boundless sky guides the flight of the sparrow, who builds the blind bird’s nest, will see to it that in his good time you shall arrive.
Joseph R. Sizoo

What life means to us is determined not so much by what life brings to us as by the attitude we bring to life; not so much by what happens to us as by our reactions to what happens.
Lewis L. Dunnington

Most of us can afford to take a lesson from the oyster. The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this. Irritations get into his shell. He does not like them; he tries to get rid of them. But when he cannot get rid of them he settles down to make of them one of the most beautiful things in the world. He uses the irritation to do the loveliest thing that an oyster ever has a chance to do. If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only one prescription: make a pearl. It may have to be a pearl of patience, but anyhow, make a pearl. And it takes faith and love to do it.
Harry Emerson Fosdick

He calls us out of the crowd and clamor, away from the noise of getting things done, accomplishing goals and achieving, away from reaching and striving, into the quiet and peace of just…being. In the simple out of being still and trusting – we finally fulfill his will.
1 Thessalonians 4:11

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done. But he with a chuckle replied, that "maybe it couldn’t" but he would be one who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin on his face. If he worried, he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn’t be done, and he did it. Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you’ll never do that. At least no one ever has done it." But he took off his coat and took off his hat and the first thing he knew he’d begun it, with the lift of his chin and a bit of a grin. If any doubt rose he forbid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn’t be done, and he did it. There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done. There are thousands to prophesy failure. There are thousands to point out to you, one by one, the dangers that wait to assail you. But just buckle right in with a big of a grin, then take off your coat and go to it. Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing that cannot be done, and you’ll do it.
Edgar A. Guest

It is not what he has, nor even what he does, which directly expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.
Henri Frederic Amiel

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity.
George Bernard Shaw

If I can do some good today,
If I can serve along life’s way,
If I can something helpful say,
Lord, show me how.
Grenville Kleiser

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.
David Viscott

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
1 John 3:16

Once, a young orphan girl despondent and lonely, walked through a meadow and saw a small butterfly caught in a thorn bush. The more the butterfly struggled to free itself, the deeper the thorns cut into its fragile body.
Filled with compassion, the girl released the butterfly. But, instead of flying away, the butterfly transformed into an angel and said gently, "To reward you for your kindness, I will do whatever you would like."
The girl thought for a moment, then replied, "I want to be happy!"
"Very well," the angel said. Then the heavenly creature leaned close to the girl and whispered something in her ear.
Many years later, as the orphan lay on her deathbed after a full and happy life, her friends gathered around her. "Won’t you tell us your secret now," they pleaded. With a labored smile, the woman answered, "An angel told me that no matter where I went in life, I would find people who needed me – people rich or poor, young or old, meek or self-assured – and meeting those needs would bring me happiness and satisfaction."
Author Unknown

God has a purpose for each one of us, a work for each one to do, a place for each one to fill, an influence for each one to exert, a likeness to his dear Son for each one to manifest, and then, a place for each one to fill in his holy temple.
Arthur C. A. Hall

Go often to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dear Lord. Help me to be a star on someone’s path today. Show me what needs to be done and help me to accomplish it. Be my guiding hand of everything I do. Help me to give to others as you have given to me. Thank you for holding me in the palm of your hand. Amen

Remind me to take time to study the map
before racing down the road, to look for
signposts and wait for your direction
as I travel on the way.
Proverbs 19:2

God will not let your foot slip – he who
watches over you will not slumber…
The Lord watches over you –
The Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm –
He will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121: 3, 5–8

But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hand.
Psalm 31:14-15

Whoever falls from God’s right hand is caught into his left.
Edwin Markham

Take heart. . . your sins are forgiven.
Matthew 9:2

This day is almost done. When the night and morning meet it will be only an unalterable memory. So let no unkind word, no careless doubting thought, no guilty secret, no neglected duty, no wisp of jealous fog becloud its passing. Now, in token of our deep and abiding love, we would lay aside all disturbing thoughts, all misunderstandings, all unworthiness. If things have gone awry, let neither of us lift an accusing finger. Who is to blame is not important; only how shall we set the situation right. And so, serving and being served, loving and being loved, we shall make a peaceful home, where we and our children shall learn to face life joyfully, triumphantly, so near as God shall give us grace.
F. Alexander Magoun

Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands.
Protect them as they protect us.
Bless them and their families for the selfless acts
they perform for us in our time of need.
I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen

You go no where by accident.
Wherever you go, God is sending you.
Wherever you are, God has put you there.
He has a purpose in your being there.
Christ who dwells in you has something
He wants to do through you where you are.
Believe this and go in His grace and love and power.
Richard C. Halverson, Chaplain of the United States Senate

O God, help me to touch someone today with my eyes, my words,
my smile, my voice, my laughter, Your word.
Change my life, so I can make a difference.
Let my actions bring someone closer to you.
Help me to make Christmas last all year.
Help me to use my gifts for Jesus.

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