Amy's Place ... Poetry and Potpourri ... January - December, 2022

1-01-2022 | The Mayor; Luvie; JustAmy

[luvie]

Peaches...From The Windowsill
Have A Very Happy Caturday!

[left that other site]

Happy Summer Saturday!

Stay Cool!

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

[luvie]

It’s definitely summer. We’re meting.

[left that other site]

meting?

Did you mean “melting”?

Or, “mating”.

[left that other site]

Or “meeting?”

[luvie]

Casting Crowns~Praise You In The Storm

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir~How Great Thou Art

Daniel O'Donnel~Church In The Wildwood

Statler Brothers~Amazing Grace

Gaither Vocal Band~Heaven's Joy Awaits

St. Olaf Choir~When Peace Like A River

Providence~Sweet Beulah Land

GOD BLESS YOU THIS LORD'S DAY!

[The Mayor]

Our Daily Bread

Sunday,
July 10, 2022

Watching Out for One Another

Read: Zechariah 7:4–10

Show mercy and compassion to one another. Zechariah 7:9

Jose, a seventy-seven-year-old substitute teacher, had been living out of his car for eight years. Every night, the elderly man bunked down in his 1997 Ford Thunderbird LX, carefully monitoring the car battery as it powered his computer for his evening’s work. Instead of using the money earmarked for rent, Jose sent it to numerous family members in Mexico who needed it more. Early every morning, one of the teacher’s former students saw Jose rummaging through his trunk. “I just felt I needed to do something about it,” the man said. So, he launched a fundraiser and weeks later handed Jose a check to help him pay for a place to live.

Though Scripture repeatedly instructs us to watch out for one another, it’s sometimes difficult to see past our own concerns. The prophet Zechariah rebuked Israel who, rather than worshiping God or serving others, were “feasting for [them]selves” (Zechariah 7:6). Ignoring their shared communal life, they disregarded their neighbors’ need. Zechariah made God’s instructions clear: the people were to “administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another . . . [and] not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor” (vv. 9–10).

While it’s easy to be consumed with our own needs, faithfulness calls us to tend to the needs of others. In the divine economy, there’s plenty for all. And God, in His mercy, chooses to use us to give some of that plenty to others. — Winn Collier

Who are some of the people that you’re responsible to care for? Where do you find yourself consumed with your own concerns?

God, please give me a greater vision to care for my neighbors.

Bible in a year: Job 41–42; Acts 16:22–40

[The Mayor]

Our Daily Bread

Monday,
July 11, 2022

True Freedom

Read: 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1

No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. 1 Corinthians 10:24

While reading on the train, Meiling was busy highlighting sentences and jotting down notes in the margins of her book. But a conversation between a mother and child seated nearby stopped her. The mom was correcting her child for doodling in her library book. Meiling quickly put her pen away, not wanting the toddler to ignore her mother’s words by following Meiling’s example. She knew that the child wouldn’t understand the difference between damaging a loaned book and making notes in one you owned.

Meiling’s actions reminded me of the apostle Paul’s inspired words in 1 Corinthians 10:23–24: “ ‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”

The believers in Jesus in the young church in Corinth saw their freedom in Christ as an opportunity to pursue personal interests. But Paul wrote that they should view it as an opportunity to benefit and build up others. He taught them that true freedom isn’t the right to do as one pleases, but the liberty to do as they should for God.

We follow in Jesus’ footsteps when we use our freedom to choose building others up instead of serving ourselves. — Poh Fang Chia

Why does it honor God when you’re careful in what you say and do around others? How can you be more considerate of others in the exercise of your freedom?

Jesus, thank You for setting me free. Give me wisdom and grace to exercise my freedom in ways that truly honor You and bless others.

Bible in a year: Psalms 1–3; Acts 17:1–15

[Aquamarine]

Great message.

[The Mayor]

I thought so too!
Thanks

[luvie]

This IS Monday Madness...
...and All Summer Madness! 🔥
/whining. LOL!

[left that other site]

Happy Monday!

Stay Cool As Best As You Can! (Prayers Up For Texas!)

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

[luvie]

We’re trying. It’s 101 here [on its way to 104] and much hotter south and east of us with all the high humidity that accompanies that heat. 117 “feel-like” temp for my brother near Houston yesterday afternoon. Thanks for the prayers. They really are needed.

[left that other site]

Ugh. People say Florida is hot, but in 16 years I don’t ever remember temperatures like THAT.

[TheConservativeParty]

Happy Monday!
Sorry about the hot weather by you!
Was good here, middle 80s.
Forecast looks good, which leaves no excuse to not weed the gardens!
😅

[luvie]

Mid-80s sounds perfect! Maybe in November. LOL!

[The Mayor]

Our Daily Bread

Tuesday,
July 12, 2022

A Teachable Spirit

Read: Proverbs 1:1–7

Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. Proverbs 1:5

It has become sadly “normal” to attack not only the opinions of others but also the person holding the opinion. This can be true in academic circles as well. For this reason, I was stunned when scholar and theologian Richard B. Hays wrote a paper that forcefully took to task a work that he himself had written years earlier! In Reading with the Grain of Scripture, Hays demonstrated great humility of heart as he corrected his own past thinking, now fine-tuned by his lifelong commitment to learning.   

As the book of Proverbs was being introduced, King Solomon listed the various intents of this collection of wise sayings. But in the midst of those purposes, he inserted this challenge, “Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance” (Proverbs 1:5). Like the apostle Paul, who claimed that, even after following Christ for decades, he continued to pursue knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:10), Solomon urged the wise to listen, to learn, and to continue to grow.

No one is ever hurt by maintaining a teachable spirit. As we seek to continue to grow and learn about the things of faith (and the things of life), may we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into truth (John 16:13), that we might better comprehend the wonders of our good and great God. — Bill Crowder

In what areas of life or spiritual growth have you become stale or stunted? How can you become more teachable, allowing God to grow you beyond where you are at this moment?

Loving God, give me a humble, teachable spirit that I might continually be growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.

For further study, see Why Read the Bible?.

Bible in a year: Psalms 4–6; Acts 17:16–34

[luvie]

Hosea 9:10 "When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree."


Happy GratiTuesday!

[left that other site]

Happy Gratituesday!

It's Hot. But I'm Grateful It Isn't SNOWING. One Does Not Have to Shovel "HOT".

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

[luvie]

I can certainly understand that perspective. LOL!