Whatever He Says

The experience of sudden illness, taught me a few valuable lessons; and one of them was to relinquish my own agenda. Some of us are goal driven creatures with personal agendas constantly running throughout working and personal lives and our conversations. While in hospital, I thought more than once of Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: Not my will but yours, be done. Those words are there in the Lord's Prayer too: Thy will be done, and the verses below highlight the attitude of Christ--complete dependence on the Father's will. John 5:19-20 (New International Version ) 19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. Jesus lived his life as the ultimate example of submission to the Father. In his ...

"Behold, I will do something new,..." Isaiah 43: 19 So many times a day we encounter, "Right here, right now moments". These are moments that give us the opportunity to choose wisely. You know the ones. The ones that elementary teachers talk about when they say, "Sow an action, reap a habit. Reap a habit, develop a character. Develop a character, and earn a reputation." The opportunity is often subtle but we get to choose. Right here, right now...what will we choose. Sometimes we err in saying or doing the wrong thing. We gossip, criticize, or take offense quickly over the words of another. Sometimes we err in choosing to say or do nothing. Someone is talking about a weakness in our friend and we stand in silence. We offer no truth or insight into one of their strengths, the beauty of their character. A neighbour struggles with a heavy load, and we offer no support. Some of us have a plethora of "Right here, right now moments" where opportunity i...