Hot Chocolate

We are still tasting Hot Chocolate weather here. We are to get snow on Friday. So, in order to add more joy to this still winter season, I thought I would share this e-mail with you from my friend, Maggie! I love hot chocolate, but after reading this analogy I don't think I will appreciate it in quite the same way anymore.

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A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at
a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now
retired.

During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress
in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the
professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot
chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some
plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help
themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:
'Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving
behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only
the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot
chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases
even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot
chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups...
And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and
position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and
contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality
of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail
to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us.

God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people
don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything
that they have. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
And enjoy your hot chocolate!

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Does any of this ring a bell? It sure does for me! And He has always been good to me...even if it isn't what I really wanted. He knows what's best!

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Thanks be to God!!!

Urgent prayer request...

I remember last year at this time I was praying for my dear friend, Margaret. She was taken to be with our Savior on Good Friday. Today I am here to request prayers again for one who is suffering and will surely be suffering because of the treatments she must undergo. Melissa needs our prayers and I have been asked by Kathleen Miller at The Daily Grotto to link you to her blog so that you might have more information about Melissa and her status. Please pray for this young lady and her family as they endure these trial. God bless you all...

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and Thanks be to God!

Woman of the Day...

Do you cower when you read the Gospel in which Mary boldly walks into a room full of people and proceeds to anoint the feet of Jesus? I find that I do. I am not courageous. Yet, here she is, the example for us all to follow (John 12:1-8).

"Mary took a pound of costly perfume made a pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair."

Mary, you are outrageously bold. How did you dare such a display of intimacy--perfuming the feet of Jesus and toweling them with your hair, heedless of cultural rules and guests' comments? You passionately responded to Jesus' passion for the sick and lame, despised and outcast and the poor who are always around.

We sing the story of Jesus' Passion. But Jesus' passion led him bound and burdened to the hill of crucifixion. He walked the way of sorrows with fragrant feet. It is not a scene of polite, cool Christianity, rather the fire, brilliance and riskiness of passionate love. Mary, your boldness and tenderness teach us how to be in the presence of Jesus. When we gather with followers of Jesus, we can boldly and tenderly love and care and encourage. We can anoint each other for ministry with the poor, sick, oppressed and despised because we are people filled with holy passion.

Lord Jesus, we have experienced your life-giving passion. Our hears are fill with humbleness and thankfulness. Give us a passion for others that reflects you.

Elenore Sudbrock
Face to Face --Daily Lenten Devotions for Women

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I thank God for those who minister to me. I thank God for those who encourage me in my poverty of faith, who bolster my weakness, who love me as He loves me!

Thanks be to Almighty God!!!

Thought for the Day...

I have read this before, but today I feel the need to share this offering sent me by a friend. Please read it and reflect on it, for it truly is a wonderful analogy!!!

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"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
Malachi 3:3

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where
the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'

He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire , remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you

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Thanks be to God!

Letter from Shannon

By e-mail I got an update from China Little Flower and the work Shannon Walsh is doing for those unfortunate children she works with. And so this I share with you...

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I could not get the letter to link so this is the best I could do...just click for larger view. And here is the link to Shannon's web page, China Little Flower

The work she does with these children and the love she gives them. Oh, my! And all this with the love and sincere trust of Our Lord! My best to you all and have a Grand Day!!!

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Thank be to God!!!