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

Heavenly Father, in this time of New Year, help me to hold on to what is good and to let go of that which you want me to. You, who make all things new, please guide me throughout the coming year. Please forgive where I have been, help me to amend what I am, and direct what you want me to become. Thank you for your love that sets me free to start anew. Use my life to benefit others, and for the building of your kingdom. Transform me as a messenger of Good News that I may serve you with vision during this coming year, so others might see the light of your love. Give me a faith to be a living stone in your temple of love. Help me to live one day at a time. Amen

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

God broke the years to hours and days,
That hour by hour
And day by day,
Just going on a little way,
We might be able all along
To keep quite strong.
George Klingle

The Old and The New
Let this New Year be the beginning of a new life in each of us wherein “old things are passed away.”

Not the old thoughts, of course, which are still true: but those that remain to nurse and encourage our prejudices.

Not the old emotions that are filled with kindness: but all anger and bitter feeling and railing.

Not the old reverence for the authority of God: but all fears born of our unworthy service apart from him.

Not the old gracious ministries that blessed mankind: but the harsh words, the suspicious looks, the clenched hands, and the unwilling feet.

Not the old habits that keep us in the straight way: but the new fashions that make us unmindful of those things which hold life together in the unity of good manners.

Not the old friends who grow more beloved each year because their worth is better appreciated: but the new associations made from mercenary motives.

Let all blessed old things stay, but let the clutter of our heads and hearts be removed, that new inspirations and new affections may come in to gladden our lives.
Chester Burge Emerson

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Mark 1:35

I got up early one morning, and rushed right into the day.
I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task.
“ Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered.
He answered, “You didn’t ask.”
I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak
I wondered why God didn’t show me, He said, “But you didn’t seek.”
I tried to come into God’s presence I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided, “My child, you didn’t knock.”
I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day.
I had so much to accomplish, that I had to take time to pray.
Author Unknown

Shoes divide men in to three classes. Some men wear their father’s shoes. They make no decisions of their own. Some are unthinkingly shod by the crowd. The strong man is his own cobbler. He insists on making his own choices. He walks in his own shoes.
S. D. Gordon

O Lord, in this New Year with new resolutions, help me to make a fresh new year living one day at a time, not worrying about the yesterdays or the tomorrows. Help me to see what I can accomplish, if I only put my trust in you. Help me to take time for myself, to take time for others, and most of all, to take time for you before I begin my day. Please use me to lift up others even as You have sent others to lift me in my times of need. Amen

Remind me Lord, that your gifts to me are meant to be shared in love, with others.
1 Samuel 16:23

Sometimes I ask the question, "My Lord, is this your will?" It's then I hear you answer me, "My Precious Child ... be still."

Sometimes I feel frustrated, cause I think I know what's best. It's then I hear you say to me, "My Busy Child ... just rest"

Sometimes I feel so lonely and I think I'd like a mate. Your still small voice gets oh so clear and says, "My Child ... please wait"

" I know the plans I have for you, the wondrous things you'll see; If you can just be patient, Child, and put your trust in me. I've plans to draw you closer. I've plans to help you grow. There's much I do you cannot see and much you do not know. But know this, Child ... I LOVE YOU. You are Precious unto Me. Before I formed you in the womb, I planned your destiny. I've something very special I hope for you to learn. The gifts I wish to give to you are gifts you cannot earn. They come without a price tag, but not without a cost; at Calvary, I gave My Son, so You would not be lost. Rest Child, and do not weary of doing what is good. I promise I'll come back for you just like I said I would. Your name is written on my palm, I never could forget; Therefore, do not be discouraged when my answer is... "Not Yet"
Author Unknown

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?" The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your benefits in stone.
Author Unknown

O Lord, Guide me to hear your whispers and to live each day a new one for you. Help me to remember that if I get the little things right, the big things will take care of themselves. Open the door of my heart. Make me a stone in your temple of love. Amen

A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most complete prayer.
Gotthold Lessing

A happy heart makes the face cheerful.
Proverbs 15:13

For in Christ you have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge.
1 Corinthians 1:5

Abraham Lincoln’s Creed
I believe in God, the Almighty Ruler of nations, our great and good and merciful Maker, our Father in heaven, who notes the fall of a sparrow and numbers the hairs on our heads. I recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proved by all history that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord. I believe that the will of God prevails. Without him, all human reliance is vain. With that assistance I cannot fail. I have a solemn vow registered in heaven to finish the work I am in, in full view of my responsibility to my God, with malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives me to see the right.
Compiled by William E. Barton

There is no new thing to be said of Lincoln. There is no new thing to be said of the mountains, or of the sea, or of the stars. The years may go their way, but the same old mountains lift their granite shoulders above the drifting clouds, the same mysterious seas beat upon the shore, and the same silent stars keep holy vigil above a tired world. But to mountains and seas and stars men turn forever in unwearied homage. And thus with Lincoln. For he was mountain in grandeur of soul; he was sea in deep undervoice of mystic loneliness; he was star in steadfast purity of purpose and of service. And he abides.
Homer Hock

Thomas Jefferson’s Decalogue

It was a bitter cold evening in northern Virginia many years ago. The old man’s beard was glazed by winter’s frost while he waited for a ride across the river. The wait seemed endless. His body became numb and stiff from the frigid north wind.

He heard the faint, steady rhythm of approaching hooves galloping along the frozen path. Anxiously, he watched as several horsemen rounded the bend. He let the first one pass by without an effort to get his attention. Then another passed by, and another. Finally, the last rider neared the spot where the old man sat like a snow statue. As this one drew near, the old man caught the rider’s eye and said, “Sir, would you mind giving an old man a ride to the other side? There doesn’t appear to be a passageway by foot.”
Reining his horse, the rider replied, “Sure thing. Hop aboard.” Seeing the old man was unable to lift his half-frozen body from the ground, the horseman dismounted and helped the old man onto the horse. The horseman took the old man not just across the river, but to his destination, which was just a few miles away.

As they neared the tiny but cozy cottage, the horseman’s curiosity caused him to inquire. “Sir, I notice that you let several other riders pass by without making an effort to secure a ride. Then I came up and you immediately asked me for a ride. I’m curious why, on such a bitter winter night, you would wait and ask the last rider. What if I had refused and left you there?”

The old man lowered himself slowly down from the horse, looked the rider straight in the eyes, and replied. “I’ve been around these here parts for some time. I recon I know people pretty good.” The old-timer continued, “I looked into the eyes of the other riders and immediately saw there was no concern for my situation. It would have been useless even to ask them for a ride. But when I looked into your eyes, kindness and compassion were evident. I knew, then and there, that your gentle spirit would welcome the opportunity to give me assistance in my time of need.”

Those heartwarming comments touched the horseman deeply. “I’m most grateful for what you have said,” he told the old man. “May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion.”

With that Thomas Jefferson turned his horse around and made his way back to the White House.
Author Unknown

In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
Titus 2:7 – 8

Those who trust in the Lord for help
will find their strength renewed.
They will rise on wings like eagles;
they will run and not get weary;
they will walk and not grow weak
Isaiah 40:31

What Jesus Christ would say to us if he should speak to us in audible voice now would be something like this: Be a person. Be a real person. Stand on your own feet. Do not be pushed about by passing fads. Live by an inward light. Be true to an inward loyalty. If skepticism divides the church, vulgarity discolors social living, the profit motive makes industry often cruel, and nationalism blockades the way to peace, do not yes, yes the situation. Have a conscience of your own and, when in private life the clamor of public custom grows very loud, do you grow quiet, quiet enough to hear the beat and catch the rhythm of that inward drum.
Harry Emerson Fosdick

Spiritual maturity begins when we realize that we are God’s guests in this world. We are not householders, but pilgrims; not landlords, but tenants; not owners, but guests.
C. Willard Fetter

Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and can be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face.
St. Francis of Assisi

O Lord, in this New Year with new resolutions, help me to make a fresh new year living one day at a time, not worrying about the yesterdays or the tomorrows. Help me to see what I can accomplish, if I only put my trust in you. Help me to take time for myself, to take time for others, and most of all, to take time for you before I begin my day. Please use me to lift up others even as You have sent others to lift me in my times of need. Amen

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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